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Cross Purpose by Claire MacLeary
Aug. 19th, 2019 10:51 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
When Maggie Laird’s disgraced ex-cop husband suddenly dies, her humdrum suburban life is turned upside down. With the bills mounting, she takes on his struggling detective agency, enlisting the help of neighbour Big Wilma. And so an unlikely partnership is born.
But the discovery of a crudely mutilated body soon raises the stakes and Maggie and Wilma are drawn into an unknown world of Aberdeen’s sink estates, clandestine childminding and dodgy dealers ...
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Claire MacLeary’s crime novel (the first in a series) is a disjointed affair whose plot skips about with little tension or connection, plot strands end in an unsatisfying way while the partnership between the two women is underdeveloped. I liked MacLeary’s use of Scots dialect, which gives authenticity but the writing is technically lacking (including head-hopping between characters within scenes) such that I’m not interested in reading on.
When Maggie Laird’s disgraced ex-cop husband suddenly dies, her humdrum suburban life is turned upside down. With the bills mounting, she takes on his struggling detective agency, enlisting the help of neighbour Big Wilma. And so an unlikely partnership is born.
But the discovery of a crudely mutilated body soon raises the stakes and Maggie and Wilma are drawn into an unknown world of Aberdeen’s sink estates, clandestine childminding and dodgy dealers ...
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Claire MacLeary’s crime novel (the first in a series) is a disjointed affair whose plot skips about with little tension or connection, plot strands end in an unsatisfying way while the partnership between the two women is underdeveloped. I liked MacLeary’s use of Scots dialect, which gives authenticity but the writing is technically lacking (including head-hopping between characters within scenes) such that I’m not interested in reading on.
