I returned to my Library Shelf project with Dorothy Simpson’s Doomed to Die. This mystery novel featuring Inspector Luke Thanet was another quick read, but definitely had a convoluted plot line. The twists and turns were unexpected and were not adequately prepared; this reader felt as though he was on a constant roller coaster ride through the novel’s pages.
The story centers around a young artist who is found dead in the kitchen of her friend’s cottage after telling her husband that she wants a divorce since she is in love with another man. The woman is bleeding severely from a head wound and has a plastic bag covering her head. What was the cause of death — the head wound or suffocation? To solve the mystery, everyone must be considered a suspect — from her husband and mother-in-law to friends and her illicit lover.
A few things caused me problems while reading Doomed to Die. Simpson, a British novelist, obviously uses British spellings and phrases that are now out-of-date and difficult for the American reader. More importantly, however, was the way the mystery finally gets solved. A minute detail that is barely mentioned in the initial presentation of the murder suddenly becomes the catalyst for the crime’s solution. It felt as though Simpson had reached the pagination requirement set by her publisher and then decided to suddenly wrap up her novel in a tidy package. That type of writing always annoys me. I would rather have a short book that tells a great story than one that seems to be circling around on itself in an effort to become more substantial.
I’m sad to say that I devoted a few days to reading this novel that I can never get back. This has been the first major let-down on My Library Shelf….and I certainly hope it is not the beginning of a trend.