Book #29 for 2024: Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle
Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So, this was a book I wasn't sure about at first. The book starts off by listing all the characters who are attending a fancy wedding in Italy, and makes it clear that both the bride and groom have skeletons in their closets. It becomes apparent that the groom Laurence has been involved in a death at some point, although the first time it got mentioned I was checking earlier pages in case I missed something; likewise the bride has been involved in a similar scandal involving a health fad.
The murder doesn't take place until almost half way through; the earlier chapters of the book are about introducing the characters, and giving long backstories, which I admit I'm not too fond of, as I feel like there's a lot of information to retain.
After the murder happens things get more interesting, particularly with the dilemma as to whether the authorities should be involved, as other characters start playing detective themselves. I think a completely honest score for this book would have been a 3.5 out of 5, but since I can't do that on Goodreads, I raised it to 4. There were a lot of good red herrings, including a subplot about Mafia involvement, so I was surprised by the final reveal about the real killer.
It was nice that there was a short coda after the final reveal of the murderer, rather than the book ending suddenly, and there was at least one character who would be worthy of a return in a future novel (the wannabe detective, Robyn).
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