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Title and Author: Robbery, Murder and Cups of Tea
by Phil ChurchPrint Length: 102 Pages
Publication Date: December 2013
Language: English
Genre: Novella, Mystery, Humor
My Review:
Ray manages a small supermarket store in a small English village where he lives with his wife, Laura who is more interested in watching TV and doing Yoga to give him any attention. Bored with his life and wanting some action, Ray decides to become a Detective and try and solve any cases that happen in his village.
Dissuaded by his wife, Ray is suddenly thrown in the midst of action when he discovers the headless body of Miss Stokes while looking out his window. At once the prime suspect and victim of rampant rumors running wild through the village claiming to his murdering skills, Ray decides to solve this case. But the murders don’t stop here and soon Ray is headlong first in a mystery that will require all his amateur skills and then some more to solve and catch the killer.
I got this book free from Amazon and was pretty excited because it promised me an exciting mystery with cups of tea! 🙂
The cover is simple and gives a feel of a quiet tea time cozy mystery. The blurb is very intriguing and attracts the attention of the reader.
But I cant say that I am very thrilled after reading the book. The story starts in a promising manner and we get an introduction to Ray, his village and his daily life. Ray is an underachiever according to his wife, Laura and Ray agrees with her. His family thinks that he has got more than his due worth because a woman as beautiful as Laura and so much more richer than him married him, an ordinary man with no special qualities to his name.
Initially I was entertained by all the humor and witty dialogues but then they just kept dragging on and on with no pace. The story drags and the mystery also when it comes makes no upgrades in the pace, interest factor and the overall feel of the book. I felt totally bored and skipped more than half the book to get to the end.
The characters are not developed to their full potential. I would have loved if some background was given about Laura and Ray’s story. Laura is almost unappreciative and uncaring towards her husband and no reason is given why she married him if she doesnt love him. Also Ray just keeps thinking that he has got more than his destiny already and makes no effort to know why Laura behaves like she does towards him. Their is no emotional development between them even when Ray is almost dies. In the end also she just says ,“…I have been thinking that if you did die, I would miss you.”
What? Not impressive and very frustrating.
The author has caliber but he needs to work upon his story telling skills so that he can keep the reader engrossed and interested. Having read so many mysteries and being a big fan of this genre, I felt nothing worth recommending about this book.
A 2 out of 5 to it and I just don’t understand all those glowing reviews of this book present everywhere. Maybe I just didn’t get the book but it is not a book that I recommend.
Buy From:
Amazon: Kindle Ebook
