Looking round the crime books in my local library I saw a book in the 'recommended' section by Hannah Dennison. On further inspection it was the fourth book in a series, and the first book was nowhere to be seen. Back at home I had a look on my Kindle and decided that 84p was an alright price to give something different a try.
A Vicky Hill Exclusive is set in a small town in Devon and follows newspaper reporter Vicky Hill. Vicky is desperate for her big break so that she can move forward from writing obituaries but life in her little town is just to boring to get any big scoops. That is, unless the last man she attended the funeral of had actually been murdered.
As I mentioned, I picked this book up as one of its successors was marked as a crime book, and I suppose it's fair to classify it like that given it follows a murder investigation. However, a few chapters in my husband asked me how the book was so far and the description I gave definitely made it sound like chick lit dressed up as a detective story. And it wasn't the best costume. First-person storytelling very much hinges on the storyteller, and if that person is shallow and ever-so-slightly clueless then that is the impression you get of the whole story.
Don't get me wrong, I did actually enjoy reading the book once I got into it. It definitely fulfilled my criteria of being something modern, different and not too taxing. And the overall plot was fine. It was mostly just the characters that were lacking, which is always a bit of a problem for me. I'm not exactly rushing to buy the next book in the series, but given I was looking for a break from other series that's hardly a problem. That doesn't mean I would rule out the second book in future, if I need to escape into a harmless world.
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