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A review by cortneybowman25
Murder at St Anne's by J.R. Ellis
2.0
Murder at St. Anne's was a solid murder mystery, however, my rating was based on the characters and the flow of the story.
Characters:
The characters fell flat for me. I was not cheering for or against them and was extremely indifferent to them. I am a reader that needs to connect with the characters in some way regardless of who they are written to be. I love a really good villian, so the character does not necessarily have to be pleasant for me to appreciate them. The characters in Murder at St. Anne's were dull and very two dimensional. The conversations between them were mundain and seemed to be more of an inconvenience between characters as opposed to a growth or relationship development opportunity. Conversations between "old friends" seemed forced and not genuine in any way. Even news of a death did not seem to phase other characters which is something I need to feel in characters that I am reading.
Story Flow:
J.R. Ellis provided a good environment for this murder mystery. I appreciated the references to the scenery and the details in the churches. The paragraph flow was not as smooth and easy to read. I would sometimes lose focus during character conversations because the characters themselves did not seem invested in the conversations so why should I? The conversations also felt forced throughout the book, the characters did not seem like they wanted to be in the novel which made the story drag on. Again, the murder mystery aspect of the story was interesting enough, but I felt no connection to the events occuring and the transition from one sceen to another was sudden and did not transition nicely.
Overview:
I wanted to love this book, it seemed like a light and fun winter murder mystery, but the story seemed more religious to me than an actual story. I hope that makes sense. The religious aspect and the setting were more developed than the characters were. I felt like the focus could have been a little more balanced and a little more focus on the development of characters instead of short insights into their past woud have made things flow a little better for me.
Characters:
The characters fell flat for me. I was not cheering for or against them and was extremely indifferent to them. I am a reader that needs to connect with the characters in some way regardless of who they are written to be. I love a really good villian, so the character does not necessarily have to be pleasant for me to appreciate them. The characters in Murder at St. Anne's were dull and very two dimensional. The conversations between them were mundain and seemed to be more of an inconvenience between characters as opposed to a growth or relationship development opportunity. Conversations between "old friends" seemed forced and not genuine in any way. Even news of a death did not seem to phase other characters which is something I need to feel in characters that I am reading.
Story Flow:
J.R. Ellis provided a good environment for this murder mystery. I appreciated the references to the scenery and the details in the churches. The paragraph flow was not as smooth and easy to read. I would sometimes lose focus during character conversations because the characters themselves did not seem invested in the conversations so why should I? The conversations also felt forced throughout the book, the characters did not seem like they wanted to be in the novel which made the story drag on. Again, the murder mystery aspect of the story was interesting enough, but I felt no connection to the events occuring and the transition from one sceen to another was sudden and did not transition nicely.
Overview:
I wanted to love this book, it seemed like a light and fun winter murder mystery, but the story seemed more religious to me than an actual story. I hope that makes sense. The religious aspect and the setting were more developed than the characters were. I felt like the focus could have been a little more balanced and a little more focus on the development of characters instead of short insights into their past woud have made things flow a little better for me.