by Alice LoweeceyEveryone raved over this first mystery. Ex-nun takes over her husband's detective agency when he returns to the police, and proceeds to take on a case investigating an obnoxious man who killed his obnoxious wife by strangling her with a tie. Everyone assumes his guilt because all of the evidence points to him, and Giulia (the detective) is more than half-convinced he's guilty, too. But she decides to take on the case for no reason I can fathom.
Clearly, I had issues--starting with my inability to pronounce the name Giulia. I decided to say Julia, with a little hitch each time as I remember to make the G soft. I eventually looked it up and discovered it is an authentic Italian given name, so I had no right to gripe. So I read on, growing more and more irritated with the abbreviated, uber-witty dialog; the constant interruptions of the "detection" with flavored coffees and snacks and meals and more snack and more meals; the shallow snippets of characters that bounced on and off the stage; the short chapters and shorter sentences. The proof of the crime(s) seemed awfully flimsy, even at the end. The final action scene didn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense any way I looked at it. People acted strangely for no apparent reason and we were supposed to accept it and applaud.
I think all that says this book wasn't a good fit for my personality. I give you permission to adore it. I will not pronounce judgement, just say this: there was too much of nothing crammed into too little space. For my taste.
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