Yikes. This was bad. I don't even know what else to say. I mean...you have Lynley wanting a sexual relationship or something with a woman who he meets not more than 2 months after his wife was murdered. Also, what was George even thinking with fridging Helen? The murder story-line was interesting, but the resolution was a freaking let-down. I don't even know what else to say here. This book felt like a waste of time. 

"Careless in Red" finds Thomas Lynley walking in Cornwall. He has been on his own for 6 weeks at the start of this story trying to outrun memories of his dead wife. When he comes to a cliff he sees a body and finds himself thrust in the middle of a murder investigation. The local investigator calls on Lynley to investigate a woman who is hiding something. Lynley eventually calls up Havers who is sent to Cornwall to help, but to also bring Lynley back to New Scotland Yard.

I got nothing on Lynley. He's like a shadow of his former self and his whatever it was with the vet made zero sense and actually made me despise him. 

Havers was great and the only reason why I gave this 1 star.

The local investigator had a whole backstory that I did not care about at all. So did the vet and it made zero sense when we get to her reveal. It was so dumb and I just threw up my hands. 

I can't say much about the other people in this story, the lot of them had a lot of issues and there's not really anyone that I ended up liking. At one point I wondered how everyone in this story was so miserable and unhappy. Some of the characters, read as caricatures. 

The writing was dry and the flow was awful. 

The ending was a letdown. Readers and the police know who did it, but I really wish the book had ended differently. Lynley holds a massive resolution to a murder case that occurred 25 years earlier and it made no sense that he didn't tell anyone about it, or at least to tell what he knew to the person behind this murder. The whole book felt like a rough draft. 

I should finish up with "My Life in France" today. I plan on moving onto "Golden in Death" next and hope to start "Careless in Red" on Saturday and finish it up by Sunday.

I am ready to just go hide with books this weekend!

I had some roof work done (caulking, sealing, new nails) but the pictures showed I need to have more work done up there. Thankfully nothing that is pressing, but I am annoyed that when I bought this house back in 2012 I got a new roof and supposedly new fixtures up there, but it looks like it needs spruced up a bit. 

How is everyone's #FridayReads going?

It's not like Peter Robinson to end on a cliff-hanger, but that's exactly what he does in this novel, albeit only relating to a minor sub-plot (and a new character) that haven't really been all that well developed. This subplot of Zelda's (she is a former victim of sex trafficking and also girlfriend to Ray, Annie Cabbot's father) has all the hallmarks of the beginning of a Big Bad arc that might carry on through several instalments.

Meanwhile, the case of the week (as it were) also involves the exploitation of women, resulting in the untimely deaths of two of them. Adrienne Munro is dead of the effects of a drug overdose; what makes her case stand out is that her body has been dumped in a broken-down car in a remote place, after the local police's initial investigation. (The car bears a wonderfully ironic sign, "POLICE AWARE"). On the same night there's another death with inexplicable aspects - this time a man - which may be related. And then there's a third death later on, along with an enabler who is assaulted and a villain who gradually makes himself obvious, and I won't say more than that.

As always, I enjoyed the unfolding of the evidence. The fact that we get the autopsy results for the first victim right at the very end of the book struck me as unusual verisimilitude. Fortunately for Banks, said results confirmed the conclusions he and his team had already reached.

A solid entry in the series.

Knox and Gray weren't a perfect match, but my heart found them to be pretty darn close. Careless Boyfriend marks a new beginning for two friends who never even had a clue. Knox is the girl who dares to dream, even as her world is falling apart. Gray is more than just a carefree guy. He feels deeply and yearns for the girl of his dreams to give him her heart. Kelly brings to life, an amazing tale of teenage heartache and adult second chances. From the fear of never fitting in, to the emotional upheaval of losing a best friend, Careless Boyfriend never claims to be anything but what is. A compelling look at the impact love brings and the hope it gives.

I'll keep this brief:

My first foray into the Dorothy Sayers biography project was not a great one.

Within only a few pages of the Introduction, the author got a major aspect about Sayers' most famous work wrong when he described a the character Harriet Vane as the lover of Lord Peter Wimsey, which is not just wrong but it's a mistake that easily shows me that the author may not have understood the books. It's a long story, ... but it is a detail that either is a genuine mistake or a clear indication that the rest of the biography was not going to be good.

I'm not sure, but I don't believe the biography was a great one: for one, a lot of the book seemed to rely heavily on Barbara Reynolds' biography, and I am sure there was at least one memorable passage where author used a description - almost word for word, and not as part of a quote - from another biography by James Brabazon. The description was memorable because it was quite unflattering and it made me wonder how the author could possibly pass such judgement on Sayers without having known her in person. 

Also, the author professed to have carried out extensive research in the archives that hold many of Sayers' original letters, etc. but for all that research, I didn't think there was that much original thought or new evaluation of Sayers' material, and the book felt quite flat and facile. 

If looking for a biography of Sayers, head straight to Barbara Reynolds book. It has much more to offer and was written by someone who not only knew Sayers in person but also had access to a lot more of the letters and other material.