I wasn’t aware, until I received this book from the Publisher that it was in fact part of a long running series. And to be honest, if they hadn’t taken great pains to point this out in the accompanying letter, I would never have guessed that the main protagonist had appeared in so many previous novels.

Let me start with the main protagonist. I imagine the Author intended her to come off the page as a strong and independent woman, but ultimately the image portrayed is of a woman who is moneyed, opinionated and knows she’s beautiful; and the reader is reminded of this in almost every chapter of the book. I’m not sure what the intent of the Author was when they wrote this in every chapter, but after a while it becomes boorish and monotonous, and it doesn’t stop with the main character. Others that, I assume, have appeared in previous novels are treated in much the same manner, and by the time I was halfway through reading this I felt very much as if the Author were treating me like a sufferer of memory loss that needed to be reminded at every page turn what makes her characters tick; either that or they are trying to justify keeping these tired persona alive. As this book was number 11 in the series, I was expecting the Author to have got into their stride with providing some step forward in character growth during each novel, but if this one was anything to go by it has not happened.

Although the story had quite an interesting plot line, this too was not up to the standard I have read in some books by Authors just starting out, and I expected better from an established Author; it was choppy and rambling to the point where many times I felt my attention wandering to whether I should walk my dogs or do laundry. In my opinion, if the Author feels they have reached a dead-end with this character and series, they may need to consider do their readers a favour and either bringing it to an end or revamping the characters to make it more enjoyable.

I’m sorry but this is one book I just can’t recommend, not only do I feel it would be a waste of money and time but, if the series has a fan base, it is bordering on the insulting to those loyal readers.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/01/20/review-it-happens-in-the-dark-kathleen-mal...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Mallory is at her paranoidal best, being and causing same in this mystery within a play emanating from a mystery. Every time the show goes on somebody dies; getting to the second act is quite problematic. Painstakingly, especially for her superiors, Mallory penetrates the current evils to their roots in the past. ( )

I wasn’t aware, until I received this book from the Publisher that it was in fact part of a long running series. And to be honest, if they hadn’t taken great pains to point this out in the accompanying letter, I would never have guessed that the main protagonist had appeared in so many previous novels.

Let me start with the main protagonist. I imagine the Author intended her to come off the page as a strong and independent woman, but ultimately the image portrayed is of a woman who is moneyed, opinionated and knows she’s beautiful; and the reader is reminded of this in almost every chapter of the book. I’m not sure what the intent of the Author was when they wrote this in every chapter, but after a while it becomes boorish and monotonous, and it doesn’t stop with the main character. Others that, I assume, have appeared in previous novels are treated in much the same manner, and by the time I was halfway through reading this I felt very much as if the Author were treating me like a sufferer of memory loss that needed to be reminded at every page turn what makes her characters tick; either that or they are trying to justify keeping these tired persona alive. As this book was number 11 in the series, I was expecting the Author to have got into their stride with providing some step forward in character growth during each novel, but if this one was anything to go by it has not happened.

Although the story had quite an interesting plot line, this too was not up to the standard I have read in some books by Authors just starting out, and I expected better from an established Author; it was choppy and rambling to the point where many times I felt my attention wandering to whether I should walk my dogs or do laundry. In my opinion, if the Author feels they have reached a dead-end with this character and series, they may need to consider do their readers a favour and either bringing it to an end or revamping the characters to make it more enjoyable.

I’m sorry but this is one book I just can’t recommend, not only do I feel it would be a waste of money and time but, if the series has a fan base, it is bordering on the insulting to those loyal readers.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/01/20/review-it-happens-in-the-dark-kathleen-mal...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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I like this series.... Kathy Mallory is NOT a likable person, but the characters have been well-built, and I care. That's successful writing. Good plots too, not easy to pre-guess. ( )

Am Broadway werden Träume wahr, ob nun bei einem Musical von Andrew Lloyd Webber oder in einem Varieté, für Kunstliebhaber ist nahezu alles dabei. Doch manchmal finden auch Intrigen in der Kunstszene statt, und ganz selten führt das zu Mord – so wie in „Es geschah im Dunkeln“ von Carol O’Connell.

Es gibt einige Sherlock-Holmes-Adaptionen, vor allem was Filme und Serien betrifft. Die Filme mit Robert Downey jr., oder die – meiner Meinung nach beste Umsetzung – „Sherlock“-Serie von BBC, oder die eher unter Spezialisten beliebte US-Serie „Elementary“, die einen ähnlichen Ansatz wie O’Connell verfolgt; Dr. Watson ist dort nämlich eine Frau (Lucy Liu übrigens) und Kathleen Mallory heißt zwar nicht Sherlock Holmes, aber man erkennt einige Parallelen zum besten Detektiven der Welt. Zum Beispiel beherrscht sie das deduzieren ähnlich gut und über ihr Sexleben ist genau so viel bekannt wie von ihrem britischen Kollegen. Dafür hat sie Geld und gibt einiges davon für teure Kleidung aus; woher sie so viel hat, weiß selbst ihr Polizisten-Partner Riker nicht. Mallory ist ein ziemlich distanzierter Charakter, der selbst den Leser nicht an ihn heranlässt.

Riker agiert als klassischer Sidekick – wie Dr. Watson eben – und hält sich bei der Ermittlung eher zurück. Was beide gemein haben ist, dass sie nicht immer legal ermitteln; da wird zum Beispiel ein Verdächtiger unter den Tisch gesoffen und nebenbei verhört; oder es wird sich ohne Durchsuchungsbefehl in diverse PCs gehackt – aber hey, that’s New York.

O’Connells neuester Spross erinnert neben Sherlock Holmes auch stark an diverse Agatha Christie Krimis, denn das Feld an Verdächtigen ist von Anfang an stark eingeschränkt, was den Leser auch zum Ermitteln einlädt; die Theaterschauspieler und -mitarbeiter werden immer und immer wieder verhört, in den verschiedensten Situationen, und man erfährt dabei immer mehr von ihnen und ihrer Geschichte. Die Charaktere selbst sind verschiedenster Couleur, da gib es die drogensüchtige Schauspielerin, den Laufburschen, der eigentlich ein gut ausgebildeter Schauspieler ist oder ein Zwillingspaar, das einfach nie aus ihrer Rolle (sie spielen in dem Theaterstück zwei minder bemittelte Brüder) fällt. Das sind zwar markante Züge, aber leider ist da nichts, aber auch gar nichts dahinter, mir fehlt da einfach etwas, denn in den Dialogen sind alle Charaktere völlig blutleer bzw. alle gleich.

Das Gleiche ist mit der Geschichte, die zwar eine gute Idee hat, aber völlig langweilig inszeniert ist, da ist trotz Cliffhangern nur wenig Spannung da, die Handlung zieht sich wie ein schon mal gekauter Kaugummi, das Erzähltempo geht gegen null; auch das erinnert an die Romane von Arthur Conan Doyle – aber O’Connell übertreibt es leider maßlos.

Fazit: „Es geschah im Dunkeln“ erinnert stark an die Sherlock-Holmes-Romane, aber leider übertreibt es O’Connell maßlos. Das war leider gar nix, heute leider kein Foto für dich, Carol. Mehr Rezensionen gibt es auf Krimisofa.com! ( )