Crime and Passion Book #4.5
by Mary Lancaster
GENRE : #historical-mystery-romance
#Halloween-read
My rating: ★★★☆☆
Real rating : 2.5 rounded up to 3.
A short story, included in the Passion & Crime series (of which I really liked books #1 and #2 and I will soon also read #3 + the short Christmas story) written by the author exclusively for Halloween.
The protagonist couple is the common thread throughout the series, Griz and Dragan in fact met in book #1 and after falling in love and getting married they continue to be present as a couple of amateur detectives.
In this short story they will have to shed light on a suicide that they suspect to be a murder and put a ghost to rest.
--PLOT IN SHORT---
Late 1800s, England.
Dragan finds himself a guest with an aristocratic friend, whose stately home is built right next to an old ruined castle (belonging to the friend's family), which is said to be haunted by a female ghost.
The reason why Dragan was invited is to shed light on the death of his friend's girlfriend, but the only suspects are the family and the servants.
Unable to unravel the mystery on his own, Dragan invites his wife Grizelda to join him and she also brings their recently born child with her.
To complicate matters, the presence of the ghost in love with Dragan.
---------*******----------
The premises for a good Halloween story are all there but for many reasons the story didn't engage me and I didn't like the Dragan and Griz couple as much as in past books.
Since it is a short story I will be concise and essential in my personal opinion on the story:
1) I usually like the Dragan and Griz couple both as a romantic couple and as characters considered individually: both do not like conventions, they are in love and used to sharing everything but without being nauseatingly saccharine or ridiculous.
Unfortunately in this story the writer has transformed Griz into a clingy, petulant, jealous wife and in my opinion also rude in her manners and in asking investigative questions.
I didn't like it at all.
2) The plot is weak and this is obviously also due to the fact that it is a short story and not a novel, so there is no time to delve into situations, characters and investigations.
But the problem isn't just this, there are many things that don't make sense at all:
- Dragan is called to investigate and then once on site, the whole family is hostile to him and everyone insists that it was a suicide or an accident (BUT THEN WHY DID YOU CALL HIM?????)
- There is no investigation except a couple of questions asked rudely by Griz.
- The ghost seems to be included in the story only to make a connection with the Halloween holiday but seems to have nothing to do with everything else in the plot.
The ghost is seen at the beginning of the story, then at the end and is sent away in the blink of an eye in a very simple, easy and ridiculous way for a story.
The motivation for the murder doesn't make much sense, the motive and the culprit are ridiculous.
It's all very hasty, full of contradictions and not at all engaging.
All the supporting characters are unlikable and don't even seem to be part of the story itself.
They are extras who are given dialogue without content and without meaning.
The only reason why I gave 2.5 rounded to 3 stars (which for me means passable but not among those I would reread or recommend) is that I like the Dragan and Griz couple in the novels and the novels in the series are well written and very satisfying underneath all points of view (mystery, romance, ending).
If I had read this story without first reading the other books, my actual rating would have been 2 stars.
I 100% recommend the novels in the series, but don't waste your time with this short story.
Thanks for reading my opinion and please forgive my English since it's not my language.
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