#murder is binding

Recently I wanted to read a crime and/or mystery book. I remembered that I enjoyed reading a series of books where a writer with a cat solved mysteries. These books were quick reads that actually turned out to be fun because the writer was very good about giving you the evidence and letting you try to figure it out.

So I picked up “Murder is Binding” by Lorna Barrett.

aaaaaaaand FUCK is this main character unlikable! Examples include thinking that because she has read mystery and crime novels all her live that she is the person who will solve the murder of her neighbor, calling a person with Down’s Syndrome retarded, and commenting on how she is surprised that a phone call goes through to “an actual American, not a native of some foreign land earning pennies an hour”. I’m guessing the character is suppose to grow over time but I’m 27% of the way through the book and the writer has made no attempt to illustrate that the character is wrong in any fashion. So I’m guessing this is just the way the main character will be and the assumption of growth is just in my head. 

But the thing that is mystifying me the most is this weird kind of elitism that all of the characters seem to have about book collecting. There is a scene in which the main character fawns over a room filled with first edition books. The writer then lists 14 different authors; just lists them doesn’t describe or explain it’s just a list in alphabetical order. There is also a scene in which said main character is in her bookshop and talking about someone asking if she will look over their mother’s book collection and just sort of appraise it.  There is then a joke made that since it was an older woman’s collection it’s probably just filled with book club editions of best sellers and Reader’s Digest collection. The main character’s response? To shiver and say “we don’t blaspheme in this shop.” Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m missing something this 2008 mass market paperback is trying to tell me. Either way I don’t think I will be finishing this one.