Book Review: To the Manor Dead by Sebastian Stuart (Janet's Planet #1)

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Plot was decent

Cons: The characters were horrid

The Bottom Line: 

Characters ruined

First in what could have been a

Good mystery series

Death Styles of the Obnoxious Characters

Sometimes, a title just catches your eye.  That was the case with To the Manor Dead.  How could a book with a title like that be bad?  Sadly, I found out while reading it.

Janet Petrocelli has given up on life in the big city of New York and her psychotherapy practice to move to a small town on the Hudson River and run an antique shop of sorts.  So most of her wares aren't that valuable, but she is enjoying life a whole lot more.

One day, Daphne Livingston walks into her shop, offering to sell her a bunch of valuable items.  The Livingstons have been in the area for years and are quite wealthy.  Unfortunately, that wealth has turned into crazy, as Janet learns when she shows up for her appointment the next day.  Missing from the appointment is Daphne.  When Janet finally finds her, she is hanging from the gazebo.  Was it suicide or was something more sinister involved?

Now, I have nothing against the plot.  It started quickly and progressed nicely, offering up red herrings and clues as it wound to the climax.  Things seemed to happen a little abruptly in the climax, but by that point I was so ready to finish the book that I didn't care.

So what was the problem with the book?  The characters.  Janet herself is mostly okay.  As she admits at one point, she's being selfish at this point in her life.  I could get that based on her back story.  Some of the other supporting characters were also okay, although they weren't around much.  It was the suspects, and mainly the Livingstons, that I have problems with.  We meet several truly crazy people in the course of this book, and I was very uncomfortable spending time with them.  Other characters, while mostly sane, are still unpleasant to be around.

Now an argument could be easily made that this is a warning about the dangers of drugs since many of the characters are drug addicts.  That might be the case if the characters were portrayed with any kind of sympathy.  Instead, I felt like we were supposed to find their antics humorous.  I didn't and was uncomfortable being entertained by something so tragic.  And since most of these characters were rather flat, that didn't help with any other perceptions, either.

Topping things off is the excessive amount of foul language.  I realize that most people use it, and I overlook some in most of the books I read.  However, this book was filled with it, even in the narration.  A few scenes featured dialog that was nothing but characters cracking each other up by swearing.

So, To the Manor Dead turned out to be a disappointing read for me.  I know others who did enjoy it, but I won't be reading future books in the series.