I wanted to love this book! The plot is interesting but the execution is tough. Agatha is difficult to warm to, as the description promises, but I began to find her frustratingly inept. I think callousness in a character works best when they’re also clever or smart. Agatha is neither. Her drunken behavior became annoying and by the time the eyepatch came out I was losing interesting. The manuscript mystery had so much potential, unfortunately the other mysteries and the lack of direction or progress hindered it all. I genuinely think I would’ve liked this book so much more if they’d not named a character Murgatroyd.

Very different. Very entertaining. The main character is Ignatius O’Reilly meets an acidic Miss Marple.. The plotting verges on absurdist with twists galore. The solution surprised me. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoyed it a lot.