That's what makes it so remarkable when we choose good. Evil is usually easier.
Where You Will Die
by Craig Allen Heath
Genre: Cosy Mystery
About: Alan Wright is new to town and he stands out a bit as a preacher wearing a kilt. While welcomed in by some, not everyone agrees with his Universal Message. But when one of his believers ends up murdered, Alan will have to turn detective to get justice for his friend - and clear his name of the crime.
The Good
There's a really nice set up of a series here with Alan Wright working well as the main character. A priest, a detective, a friend of the people, there's a strong appeal in following him and I found him very likeable. He also had a good reason for wanting to solve the case himself - his genuine connection with Ruth made her seem to stick around the whole way through the story, and this in turn made me care to find out what had happened to her.
Of course, there's also The Little Hens (a group of old women that make it their business to know anything worth knowing). I enjoyed their banter, not only for the light-heartedness it brought but also because it strengthened the setting, really making the town feel like it had history.
As far as the plot goes, there's a good amount of mystery with clues scattered in at decent intervals. Everything flowed together logically and - even without a lot of suspects to choose from - the ending was somehow very satisfying and came with an extra twist.
The Bad
Chapters are short and they always end on a good hook to make you want to read the next one, but I still felt the pace was slow because the writing style is overly descriptive. For example, a broken phone will be described as 'wounded', or during a conversation we'll get the movement of every character in the scene. This is especially noticeable with The Hens. Great as these women were for lightening the mood, I only ever saw them as a unit. Every women gets a description one after the other when they interact, which ironically doesn't help me to differentiate them, but actually blurs them together as I can't take in so much description in one scene.
The Somewhat Iffy
The dialogue both worked and didn't work for me. I appreciated how realistic it sounded and there was some very good banter that made the characters and town really seem to come alive. On the other hand, writing dialogue in this naturalistic way means that a lot of the talking was redundant to the story. Meaningful conversations were there, but they were wedged in between a lot of small talk.
Overall
It's a good mystery with an easy-to-like main character. A bit slow paced but if you get invested in the characters then this becomes an enjoyable ride with a satisfying end.
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