2001 mystery, second in Whitelaw's Jordan Lacey series (private
investigation in a small seaside town). Jordan investigates stolen
water-lilies, vandalism, theft of a wedding cake, arson, and an errant
husband. Oh, and a Second World War aircraft wreck.
It's only book two, and already the continuity is starting to
look a bit shaky. Last time Jordan had left the police force because
of her asthma; now it's because of a whistle-blowing attempt that went
wrong, which obviously leaves her looking a bit more heroic and a bit
less inadequate.
Still, she's not terribly good at what she does, and that's the real
problem here: she flails about, feeling sorry for herself, having no
idea what's going on, missing really obvious clues, and swooning over
the unattainable DI James until I found myself actively disliking her
(yeah, yeah, you fancy him something rotten, I don't need to hear all
about it again, especially when it's distracting you from the really
obvious frame you're in that he seems to be falling for)… until
suddenly it's the last few chapters and she's able to wrap everything
up.
I'm more willing to forgive the way all the cases turn out to be
connected, though the ending is abrupt and in places unbelievable.
It's a shame that Jordan shouldn't be able to rescue herself from the
predicaments she gets into; it makes other people seem to have a
point, when they say that the work she's doing is too dangerous for
her.
There are odd bits of writing, like "I obediently ladened myself with
carrier bags", and referring to a mobile phone's ringtone as a "call
sign"; did anyone do this, even in 2002?. Jordan's private life is
still a mess, and I find it hard to sympathise with her when she keeps
several men on a string, even if they are all horrible losers. Why not
just dump them and be cleanly single, if they're so ghastly? (Well,
one of them hands her information she should have known from the
start…)
If this had been the first book in the series that I'd read, I
wouldn't have bothered with another. As it is I'll give Whitelaw one
more chance. Followed by Spin and Die.
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