Strip this of the banal, childish, implausible dialogue, the endless 'sniggering' between police officers, cardboard emotionless characters (most of them sexist misogynists) and you might actually have the bare bones of a plot with legs. But it's a hurried book (along with the hurried, (non-existent) editing, both technical and developmental): too few pages and too few POVs, making it rather one-dimensional.

It's the first of a series featuring DI Sam Cobbs (who doesn't like men very much, despite being married to one) investigating four deaths (five if you include the dog…was that really necessary?) in a rural community. Money is the root of it all, of course.

Alas, unexciting and void of exhilaration or thrills.

( )

Strip this of the banal, childish, implausible dialogue, the endless 'sniggering' between police officers, cardboard emotionless characters (most of them sexist misogynists) and you might actually have the bare bones of a plot with legs. But it's a hurried book (along with the hurried, (non-existent) editing, both technical and developmental): too few pages and too few POVs, making it rather one-dimensional.

It's the first of a series featuring DI Sam Cobbs (who doesn't like men very much despite being married to one) investigating four deaths (five if you include the dog…was that really necessary?) in a rural community. Money is the root of it all, of course.

Alas, unexciting and void of exhilaration or thrills. ( )