This review pertains to the audio version of The Winter Garden Mystery. I bought the book not knowing it was the 2nd of the series so I put off listening to it until after I listen to the 1st (Death at Wentwater Court). Had I bought that book before this one, the Winter Garden Mystery would not have been in my library. So I admit I started this book with low expectations.
Now for my thoughts on The Winter Garden Mystery. The non-recurring characters were not (for the most part) very well developed. The characters were mostly one dimensional with 2 of the characters almost making to two dimensional status. Almost. We didn’t get to know the murder victim at all because she was killed before the story started. We also knew very little about the murderer and the accused murder. I find it hard to care about characters I don’t know. We are given some backstory but not enough to get me interested in them. The plot was simplistic. Despite an attempt by the author to explain why several people could have killed Grace Moss, there were really only 2 options one of whom was not very believable as a murderer. The author attempted to explain why several people could be suspects. The explanations were not convincing. Even the character giving the explanations admitted that. The slang of the period was overused. It seemed like almost everything was spiffing old bean. Even riding in the dickey which, although uncomfortable, seemed to have occurred (or was at least thought about) with some regularity. So boring, underdeveloped characters tried to solve a nonmystery while driving to and fro with no petrol station in sight with someone sitting in the dickey of the car as they overused 1920’s slang. Definitely not the series for me.