I did like Madden and the other characters for the most part. The one redeeming value of the book was the characters. The idea that you know who the murderer is is from nearly the beginning of the book was moderately interesting at first, but as it dragged on I just wanted them to catch him and be done. I kept speeding up the reader just to get through much of it. This was lots of extra scenes thrown in that really didn't need to be there (or didn't need to be so long). Perhaps if the sex scenes were more realistic and less breathless romance novel-y.but no I wish it was not there at all. But when characters develop "undying love" for each other with in minutes of meeting and have sex (especially in period pieces where the social mores were so very different) in the middle of the investigation, I just check out. I don't mind a little romance in a mystery series (I LOVE Lord Peter and Harriet), but I really only find it less than annoying when the relationship develops in any realistic way.
The book is overly long as it is and every time it dipped into romance novel territory I rolled my eyes and sped up the reader. First of all, the whole romance part was just annoying. Both main characters are Scotland Yard Inspectors damaged by the First World War. I like the Ian Rutledge series and honestly, this is very close in premise to them. There seems to be a version with another narrator available perhaps better to try that one. General story telling, also, not really up to the standard of many others available. Other accents - 'general West Country', Brummie, Liverpudlian and Cockney itself seem to have been attempted for other characters from time to time none of them very successfully. (Apologies, Morningsiders, not suggesting that select part of Edinburgh is at all like the East End of London just that the accents are VERY different, and impact upon one's perception of character). To non-Scots, this may seem a rather pedantic observation, but imagine, for example, a character being described as Cornish or Cumbrian and yet being given a Cockney accent. The accent chosen for him was more appropriate to Morningside.
But that narrator (Christopher Kay)! One of the principal characters is described as coming from Aberdeen. It was well over half way through before I began to care much about any of the characters, or be overly interested in what happened to them, though I'd have to say that the final third of the book is pretty good. Although the 'main' murders occur pretty near the beginning of the story, the book somehow takes a very long time after that to introduce everyone and longer still to develop their characters.
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