Review: Cozy Mystery
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 2, 2012
The Body in the Lake, written by Grainne Maher, is a cozy mystery set in beautiful Ireland. The story revolves around a female private investigator, Libby, who moves into a cottage on the grounds of a local hotel while her house is being renovated. What Libby thinks will be a quiet stay turns out to be filled with mysterious accidents, family animosity and murder. The hotel is run by the grandchildren of Maud, a crotchety old woman who hires Libby's friend to be her nurse after the previous nurse goes missing. The grandchildren all believe they should get the major share of the hotel when Maud dies and when freak accidents start happening everyone becomes a suspect.I'm a bit on the fence about this book. On the one hand, I loved the flow and writing style of the story. It's a classic cozy mystery with no blood and gore, no profanity, just an entertaining and comfortable who-done-it. On the the other hand, the story doesn't always hold up and often seems to come off the rails. Although the story is entertaining, the body is not found until over half way into the book. The freak accidents that happen are great as a build-up but don't always seem to tie the story together. The author's story idea is easy to surmise and leaves little actual mystery. The climax of the story ends up being a let-down without much run-up to it and then ended too quickly. Still, I would love to read another Grainne Maher book to see if this time things would work out.