I feel there could have been about 100 pages cut out of this one and it would have been much better. Too much page time was spent with the inhabitants of the commune and not enough with Barnaby and the investigation.

The less said about Book!Sgt. Troy, the better, so I'm moving on.

The tv adaptation of this book isn't one of my favorite episodes, so it stands to reason that the book wouldn't fare much better. (The tv adaptation is better, in my opinion, though.)

That being said, I am rating this one three stars, because Ms. Graham is a very talented writer.

Also, a point in favor of the tv adaptation, the fate of a particular character was changed in the tv version, and for that I am grateful.

I had to close the book and walk away for a few moments because I had the strongest urge to knee a fictional character in his delicate bits because of sexist and racist comments.