Review: Ready For Murder. 3.5 rating
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 14, 2013
Harry Strong is an ex cop who runs his own Private Investigative agency. He is quite a dark and morose character. Harry is approached by Julia Weston a well known mystery novelist to look into the murder of her ex boyfriend, Jimmy Chandler. The murder of Jimmy is an exact replica for the plot of a bestseller that she had written the previous year.I enjoyed the concept of this mystery length novella. A mystery novelist whose plotlines are a copycat for murder.However the novella is crying out for the services of an editor.....The synopsis here on amazon says the novelist is Jessica Weston, in the novella it is Julia Weston, Julia is once referred to as Julian.There are some tensing issues and various typos, which jarred in the delivery of an otherwise engaging and absorbing mystery. Some of the plot was repetitive. ie when Harry meets Detective O'Hara in the bar to talk over the case the screwdriver /book connection is brought up, a few pages later Harry rings O'Hara at 4 a.m and says exactly the same thing again. There are a few notable discrepancies.I would have rated this mystery novella with some very dark themes and undercurrents far higher if it wasn't for the inconsistencies which were offputting.I enjoyed the author's style and characterisation but not so much the errors. Rating 3.5 and I would read another book by this author.