I love both the "Vera" and "Shetland" series, so I decided to branch out and start reading other books by Ann Cleeves. This is one of her earlier books and it seems she hadn't yet found her groove. There were a lot of characters and it was a bit difficult to keep track of everyone. In addition to that, Inspector Ramsay is not involved in most of the book, which was really disappointing. The fact that he allowed other characters to do his investigating for him made no sense, especially considering the way Vera handles cases. Quite the opposite, in fact. I love the way she keeps her cards close to her chest and has a genuine gift for solving crimes. Sad to say that this one let me down.
Rating: 2.5 stars
