It was a good mystery. The journey was better than the destination.

I enjoyed the meta elements and the author abided by the rules from the Golden Age as promised. I guessed the whodunnit pretty early, but couldn’t figure the why at all, or the other big reveal about them. It’s probably all there, woven in throughout the narrative, but honestly, I’m not here for picking apart clues from detailed accounts of fictional characters. This book taught me that while I do enjoy a good whodunnit, I much prefer the cozy subgenre just for all of the coziness, with a bit of mystery solving tacked on.

The motives for why the whodunnit did it felt pretty flat to me, probably the biggest disappointment. It would have cost more stars had I not been so entertained throughout to just let the payoff fizzle like that. I guess it’s probably harder to thread the needle of playing fair and having a compelling motive, but honestly any of the other suspects would have a more satisfying motive, but misdirection and all. Basically the writing was too good up to and beyond the payoff, such a scathing take, I know.

Solid listening experience on libro.fm and the narration by Barton Welch was well paced and immersive.