Abandoned by Booklikes

Please note that I gave this novella 2.5 stars and rounded it to 3 stars on Goodreads.

I tend to like the novellas because they are a quick read and you can get a taste of the series. That said, this one was below average for me. The beginning was way too quirky and the dialogue didn't work. We had way too much interaction between Louise and Charles. Frankly I would have been happy to have them cut out in order to build up how Dallas finds the bad guy and we can spend more time with her in Interview (one of my favorite parts of the book). Instead the whole book felt off and I think it's because it would have worked better if it had been longer.

Taking on an Alice in Wonderland theme (this book was written in an anthology that I did not complete, I only read the In Death story) the book really does not work. Maybe because I just read "Heartless" I was comparing how Meyers took her own spin on Alice in Wonderland and thought how well she did. Besides throwing out references and names here and there it didn't really work. Heck the movie "The Accountant" had a better reference to Lewis Carroll than this novella did.

The murder/suicide that Dallas investigates impacts Louise and Charles. I thought we spent way too much time with them and their feelings honestly for a novella. And this comes from someone who loves both of these characters. And the random insertion that the two dead people were once in Eve's home and at Louise and Charles wedding was odd. Eve is a trained investigator, she doesn't remember people who were in her home? Okay moving on.

The bad guy was pretty much a joke and the final confrontation between him, Dallas, and Peabody was yawn inducing. I think this story-line takes place merely a day or two after Devoted in Death so for me I was all gee New York, have a slow down in murder why don't you.