Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 7/10/2022 + 1032 more book reviews

I liked the premise of this book - being a housesitter gives an amateur sleuth lot of leeway for finding dead bodies. I also liked how Thea felt she had to become involved after hearing the scream in the night but not going to investigate. I thought the idea that she'd been sort of planted there by her brother-in-law was interesting, and her relationship with him was odd enough to also be interesting. I liked Thea herself at first, but as the book went on I soured on her a little. It was the housesitting that did it - she doesn't do hardly anything the owners ask - she looks at the mess the house is becoming and vaguely thinks she'll do it before they come home. At one point the dogs don't even have water. There's a lot of atmospheric narrative that slowed it down for me, and I also felt that Thea's figuring out the motive was too rushed. If there were only a few of these, I wouldn't go on, but there are 15 so it seems they're pretty successful. I'll probably pick up #2 and see if I like it.

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