Review ~ All Things Nice by Sheila Bugler

Brandon
O'Brien Books
April 2016

Never Forget. Never Forgive.

All Things Nice is the third book in the DI Ellen Kelly series of crime novels. This one sees DI Kelly in her first big case for months and those who have followed the series will know why this is, and for those new to the series I won't say more as all will be revealed when the author explains the back story and the personal issues which DI Kelly needs work through.

In this story, Charlotte Gleeson and her husband Nick seem to have everything, a nice home, a successful business and a life that is the envy of most people, but bubbling away under the surface is a hotchpotch of lies and deceit, which threaten, not just Charlotte and Nick but also the lives of those around them, with disastrous consequences. When a body is found in the aftermath of Charlotte's birthday party, the finger of suspicion wavers between those who were present at the party and those who could have had an agenda all of their own. 

The story takes a little while to get going, and some of the beginning scenes are rather slow and even though I have read the previous book in the series, it took me a while to get back into the psyche of the main characters, which sort of spoiled some of the effect of the current plot. I do find that some of the characters lack depth, and try as I might to like DI Kelly, I'm afraid that I don't, and therein lies the problem for me, as I don't really empathise with her problems and  that makes me lose focus on the rest of the story.

So, overall, this story is a fairly standard crime thriller with some interesting moments of police investigation which help to move the plot along but which, I'm afraid, failed to inspire me much.

As always, this is just my personal opinion and I'm sure that there are many readers who find this series fascinating, sadly, on this occasion,  I'm not able to enthuse.

Best Read With ....plenty of tea and a cheese sandwich...

About the Author

My thanks to Real Readers and Brandon for my copy of this book.