Trouble in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
2.5★
So many friends and reviewers on Goodreads seem to like this book. I liked the idea behind the book. I liked the setting & Steel’s very evocative descriptions of Ceylon’s (Sri Lanka’s) scenery, customs & delectable cuisine.
The covers (and I am shallow enough to be swayed by covers) are eyecatching and Steel sensibly isn’t changing them every 5 minutes!
That is pretty much where it stops for me. After such wonderful scene setting in the beginning, for a short book, this one started to drag.
The main problem was the stilted dialogue. Clichéd characters also didn’t help. There were also very few suspects in the murder of a disliked and brutal plantation owner. If it wasn’t such a short book (it finished at 89% on my Kindle) I think I would have abandoned the read.
Not many mystery series start strong though – and I do have the second book in the series on my kindle. I may still read
and see if it shows more character and plot development.
Carol - She's So Novel! 