by J.R. Ellis
Release Date: September 13, 2018
2018 Thomas & Mercer
Ebook Edition; 299 Pages
ISBN: 978-1503904941
ASIN: B07C23S4D4
Audiobook: B07G7FBN41
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher
2 / 5 Stars
Summary
Lord Redmire’s gambling habit has placed him in
serious debt. Determined to salvage his fortune by putting Redmire Hall
on the map, the aristocrat performs an impossible locked-door illusion
on live TV. But as the cameras roll, his spectacular trick goes fatally
wrong… Special guest DCI Jim Oldroyd has a front-row seat, but in all
his years with the West Riding Police he’s never witnessed anything like
this. He sees Redmire disappear―and then reappear, dead, with a knife
in his back. As Oldroyd and DS Stephanie Johnson soon discover, nearly
everyone at the event had a reason to resent the eccentric lord. But how
did the murderer get into the locked room―or out, for that matter? When
the only other person who knew the secret behind the illusion is
brutally silenced, the case begins to look unsolvable. Because as
Oldroyd and Johnson know, it’s not just a question of who did it and why
―but how ?
My Thoughts
The Murder at Redmire Hall is the third book in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series, and while I love a locked-room mystery, this one fell a bit flat for me. The author obviously loves Agatha Christie, and I am not opposed to a more modern-day tribute to her mysteries, but I also don't think her style always works very well in the modern world.
First of all, I do enjoy Oldroyd as a main character and I have no gripes with his character development. I was happy to see a bit more of Steph in this book and to learn a bit more about her, but realistically speaking, I don't read these books for the character development of the police detectives as I am interested in the murders and the motives behind them. This is where I think an author needs to really push the development. In this case, this book fell flat on its face. I personally thought the list of suspects was so stereotypical that I was rolling my eyes a lot of the time. Let's take a look shall we? We've got the victim, a lord who is a gambler and about to lose everything. Then there is the covetous brother who thinks everything should have gone to him and is extremely jealous and frankly, annoying. Next, we have the divorced wife who is perfect because she put up with ex-husband's doings over the years and naturally, raised one spoiled child and one perfect child who is set to inherit the estate. And of course, we have the ex-fling who is invited even though the ex-wife is there. What? And then there are the servants. And I am using that word because that's exactly how they were treated in this book. So, did we time travel to 1920s or are we in the 21st century? I get that this was a bit of a spoof on the characters from Christie's books, and the author did try hard to bring that aspect to this book, but I don't think it worked. You can do an homage to Christie and still have interesting characters.
So. why is this important? Well, in the modern world we have this thing called forensics and actual police procedural work. You know, when you bring in SOCOs and other personnel to actually investigate and send things to a lab. They would have been tearing everything apart and found a lot of the things that were mentioned in passing, like a safe, for example. But no, we have interview after interview, with little being revealed. And even then, one of the biggest clues got missed. So, this didn't sit right with me at all. But the plot moved along in its bumbling way and we got the big reveal at the end, ala Hercule Poirot style. Yup, you got it. Let's bring everyone back to the table, let's reveal things that aren't really necessary because you have a beef against rich people, and when the person is finally revealed, they reveal all their motivations no problem, as if they aren't going to be roasted on a spit in prison for the next 25 years. Oh, and despite no one figuring out the locked-room mystery for years, naturally Oldroyd figures it out. Of course.
Verdict
The Murder at Redmire Hall is a locked-room mystery and definitely an homage to Agatha Christie, but really, that's as far as it should have gone. I did like the concept of the locked-room and I am, and will always be, a fan of locked-room mysteries as I think they are fascinating, probably going back to my Agatha Christie reading days. I would have liked to have seen some actual police investigation into the murder however, as there was so little it was almost laughable. The characters were cliched and stereotypical and I almost bowed out when the author had Oldroyd do his big reveal the way he did, but I stuck it out. I will probably read the next book in this series (mostly because the publisher gave me the whole series to review), and while I did enjoy the first two books in this series, I was not a fan of this one.
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