Book Review: Murder on Monday by Ann Purser (Lois Meade #1)

Stars: 1 out of 5

Pros: Lois and the rest of the characters

Cons: Plot way too slow and boring

The Bottom Line: 

Characters well drawn

But its not enough to save

Book from the slow plot

Book to Skip Any Day of the Week

I've had the first book in Ann Purser's Lois Meade series on my to be read list for years.  I finally got around to reading Murder On Monday.  Frankly, I wish I hadn't.

In order to help her family's finances, Lois Meade has begun taking on house cleaning jobs in the nearby village of Long Farnden.  It's a seemingly nice place, and while a couple of her clients can be hard to handle, she enjoys it.

Then on a Monday night, Gloria Hathaway is murdered.  Gloria was a spinster who seemed to be liked by her neighbors.  The police quickly ask Lois to keep her ears open since it seems all her clients had connections to Gloria.  Can she find the killer?

I did like Lois as a main character.  She can be prickly and snap at times, but I found her reactions realistic most of the time.  The rest of the cast was believable and expertly brought to life.

The problem is the plot.  We start out with background on all the characters who will be suspects before we really care.  I thought the story might pick up when Gloria finally dies, but no, it continues to plod along as Lois tries to learn things that are obvious to us from what we've been told.  Now, the reader knowing more than the sleuth can be entertaining, but in this case, the story was so thin that I kept waiting for a big twist - any big twist.  I will admit the killer caught me off guard, but by then I really didn't care.

Honestly, I found a sub-plot with Lois' daughter much more interesting than the main story.

Ann Purser lives in England, and the book is set in a small English village.  As such, there are lots of references that are very authentic.  Even some words are spelled the British way.  I never found that a detriment to the book.

However, the author tries for omniscient point of view, and almost pulls it off.  Occasionally, she switches character point of views too quickly.  It might have annoyed me more if I was enjoying the book, but I honestly didn't care.

I know the series seems to have some fans, but I can't figure out why.  After Murder On Monday, I will be passing on the rest of Lois's adventures.