Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. Today I am bringing you a book review for A Pen Dipped In Poison by J M Hall. I hope you all enjoy it.
As usual, I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. WARNING: This book review will probably contain spoilers, so read at your own risk.
A Pen Dipped In Poison Plot:
This novel is the second in a series following three women, Thelma, Pat and Liz, who get caught up in different situations. I say this because I was sold this book on the idea that the first book featured a murder and so I thought this one would too. It did not, the novel frequently hints at scenarios that could lead to murder or lead to a body, that kind of thing but then these scenarios end up being nothing at all. This annoyed me because I felt very misled by the novel, and not in the good way.
The first half of the novel, where members of the school staff start receiving poison pen letters I enjoyed, it built itself up very well but unfortunately I feel that the second half just deflated, there was barely any mystery to solve and overall I felt it was very underwhelming.
A Pen Dipped in Poison Characters:
Contrary to what I thought of the plot, I enjoyed the characters this novel revolves around. They each had their own stories outside of the mystery and I liked how this was shown to intertwine with each other. Particularly I liked how they were shown to be such good friends yet they keep so much from each other. I would read another of the books in this series, just to read some more of these characters.
A Pen Dipped In Poison Writing and Dialogue:
For me, the writing in this novel was fine. It didn’t stand out to me in a good or a bad way. The only thing that stood out was the anger coming through the words about the way schools are being turned into, and run as, businesses.
A Pen Dipped In Poison Overall:
Blurb/Synopsis:
Signed. Sealed. Dead?
Retired schoolteachers Liz, Pat and Thelma never expected they would be caught up in a crime even once in their lives, let alone twice.
But when poison pen letters start landing on the doorsteps of friends and neighbours in their Yorkshire village, old secrets come to light.
With the potential for deadly consequences.
It won’t be long until the three friends are out on a case yet again…
The second totally addictive and page-turning cosy mystery featuring these very unlikely sleuths. Fans of Agatha Christie and Midsomer Murders will be hooked.
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