Review: Character-driven; very little mystery
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2012
This was a very long book, and the author's descriptions of the Yorkshire Dales were very good - you were right there with the characters.  However, that also is the reason I'm giving this only 3 stars.  The book was simply TOO descriptive.  It was filled with an incredible amount of superfluous information which did not set the scene (the scene was already adequately set) nor did it advance the story at all.  If the superfluous descriptions of the scenery, the weather, the actions of the characters, etc. were cut this book would practically be a novella.  Simply too much of a good thing.They mystery itself ended up taking a back seat to the character interactions (I'm not going to use the word 'development' because there wasn't a lot of developing).  Some people might like this emphasis on the characters and their lives.  Again, I thought it was just a bit too much, given that this book is marketed as a mystery.  The characters were well-drawn and believeable, although Millie struck me as being a bit shallow, but she did seem to grow up a bit over the course of the story.  The other characters were a bit more well-rounded.  Since this is the first in a series, hopefully Millie will continue to grow and mature as a character.I would recommend this book, but only with reservations, as noted above.  This is a totally character- and place-driven story with the action taking a back burner to the character interactions.Note on Kindle formatting:  Very good.  I did not note any issues worthy of comment.