The Deepest Grave by Jeri Westerson – 4 Stars
Publisher: Severn House
ISBN: 9781780109725
I was offered a pre-published copy
of a new Crispin Quest series book and decided to get this earlier one from the
library to read first so I could learn about the characters and pick up background
information. What I found from
The Deepest Grave was
that it was not necessary to read the previous books in the series.
This book was well written with a
rather simple mystery plot where detective, or “tracker” within, Crispin Quest takes
on two different murder investigations: one began with someone or something
digging up corpses and robbing a church and the other began with a 7-year old
confessing to killing a neighbor. The stories take various twists throughout
and capture your attention and interest in the solving of the murders. I would
consider this a mystery with both a unique story and unique characters that
provided a satisfying read.
What I was not too excited about
was the endings of the murder investigations. Like some of the TV shows that
are limited to an hour, this book abruptly concludes with the killers of both
murders freely confessing and telling exactly how they planned and did the
killings. To get to the conclusions, Crispin guesses at possibilities and
investigates each one in order rather than collecting all the facts and then
pursuing the most likely suspect. He investigated a suspect on a feeling or
hunch rather than on multiple facts. Regardless of his approach which differs
from what I would believe is a normal way to investigate, he does finally “bump”
into the killers who immediately spill their guts, which is not very realistic.
If you want an entertaining novel
that is cozy and requires little thinking, but is enjoying, then The Deepest
Grave, and probably the whole series, is a recommended read. I’ll be
reading the author’s new novel now that I know what style I can expect. Hopefully,
it will be a bit more thought provoking than this one.
Reviewer: Rich
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