Deadly Nightshade (Martha’s Vineyard Mystery #1) by Cynthia Riggs

Deadly Nightshade by Cynthia Riggs

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It took me 42 days to finish this audiobook – that’s almost three times as long as it took me to listen to Game of Thrones!

The general premise of Deadly Nightshade is fine. The problem with the book is that there was too much of everything. There were too many murders, too many plot twists, too many characters and far too much description of the setting. The orientation just kept going and going. I wonder if this is because it is the first in the series so it is establishing the world for the whole series – but I’m not sure. I realised this added description was getting ridiculous when the dialogue was interrupted on numerous occasions to give atmospheric details.

Victoria is a wonderful character. She is a feisty, independent woman in her nineties who defies her age. I really wanted to love her but I just couldn’t. The voice used by the narrator didn’t hold any warmth or strength. There are quite a few characters for a relatively short story. The narrator was not able to create enough difference between the characters’ voices to make the story easy to follow. It is often difficult for British narrators to portray such an array of American characters.

I wouldn’t recommend the audiobook version of Martha’s Vineyard: Deadly Nightshade. I have heard that the others in the series are better but I’m in no hurry to find out.

After finally completing Deadly Nightshade, I think I need to seriously reconsider my policy of always finishing books.

Happy reading 🙂

Finally finished July 2013

 

If you have read any of the Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries, let me know what you thought or link your review. 

What is your policy on finishing books? Do you have a rule, a guideline or criteria to tell you when it is time to give up?