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Fatal Puzzle (2000)

by Catherine Shepherd(Favorite Author)

3.13 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

series

Zons Crime

review 1: This small story about serial murders five hundred years ago in the German hamlet of Zons, with an echoing modern crime in Zons in the present, is pleasant enough and makes little sense. "Fatal Puzzle" is sparely and simply written, telling a businesslike story peopled with stock characters. There's the handsome, forward-looking medieval chief of the guard, and the super-human Serial Killer With A Master Plan, and the clever female protagonist who, in the course of being a journalism student, solves mysteries that baffle the police. Add a few sidekicks and a couple of virginal victims to be horribly raped and murdered, and it's ready to go. It's a not a bad book, but it's a book abstracted from a hundred prime time detective shows, tossed with a few new flavors. Strict... morely in the Dan Brown tradition of Drama Lite, with the baffling addition of a plotline drawn from supernatural fantasy stories (which really goes nowhere). This is the first of a series, but you don't need to read the other books to learn who the killer is - and I'm stopping here.
review 2: I chose this book for the Kindle First program because the synopsis sounded as though it was either going to be really fascinating or crumble into plot holes, and I was willing to take the chance that it might be something phenomenal.Unfortunately, this book has a number of plot holes, historic inconsistencies, and an ending that ties everything up in a wildly unrealistic way. A number of things I'd thought could be interesting plot points or could grow into something interesting or unusual but smart just fell apart or were dropped. Other major plot points were unbelievable and the conversations and exchanges were almost uncomfortable to read. I think this book was a wonderful concept that was just not realized. less

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