First Up! Book Review: Coffin Knows The Answer

Hello there Cuppa Joes!

What a fine day to be reading a book while enjoying a hot mug of coffee!
This here's my first book review. Please bear with me as I've only done book reports for school and this would be the very first book I've reviewed after a long, and I mean long time. I know, lame right? But hey, I gotta start somewhere. And I know I'm gonna be lacking in some, if not a lot of aspects about book reviewing (if there are any); so comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.
Hey, I'm here to learn! What better way to do that than by knowing what the readers wanna read right? So here goes.

This here's my copy and two cuppa joes

Picture yourself on the humid and rainy streets of London's Second City. People crowded around the sidewalk where you could see police tape stretching all around the block. A body of a young woman has been found! Question is: who is the killer?

Coffin Knows the Answer is a crime mystery novel by Gwendolyn Butler. It's part of a series of novels called the John Coffin mysteries. It's kind of like your Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery but aimed more at the adult audience. (of course!) So we start with a gruesome murder. When I first saw this book at a discount book store (which is where I almost always buy my books.) and read the back flap I thought ooh! looks promising! But I actually found it hard to finish. I don't know. I'ts probably just me; cause I got used to the thrilling CSI episodes and all that action and also I've read a lot of other crime and mystery novels which had gripping storylines which were such page turners. (All the pretty girls by J.T. Ellison, and Innocent Graves by Peter Robinson to name a few.) Some of which I might be reviewing later on. 

Anyway, back to the book at hand. CKA is an ok mystery read by my standards. It has your typical serial killer plot, the dashing protagonist and the beautiful damsel in distress. A couple of other murder happens before they actually find out who the killer is and surprise! surprise! there's the inevitable twist at the end. I won't go into a lot of details so as not to spoil anyone. Who knows? You might read this blog post and want to read it for yourself just to prove me wrong. Or something like that.

Okay, so lemme just break it down for a bit. The good and the bad. Alright. Let's start with the bad bits: there's not much character development for one. I'm guessing you can only get some sort of character development if you've read the rest of the books from the series. So, reading the book as a one-off doesn't really cut it, know what I mean? Well, duh me, it's a series? Well, if I ever find all the other books in the series I'll read em and letcha know. Anyway, another would be, again, predictable plot/storyline. It's in the same format as most other stories, hero, damsel in distress, hero saves the day. I understand everyone loves a happy ending, and really I can't complain; it's just that there's not much that happens in the middle to really pull you into the story up until the very end. It's more like blah in the middle, instead of the climax you were waiting for that gets the reader going like "oh my gosh! so that's why ---" and all that and so you hastily read on to know how the hero bravely saves the day. I don't know. I just didn't feel it. 

Okay, so now on to the good bits. I like how it gives details on how procedure works when it comes to investigation. lol. Honestly, it's not the typical go directly to the field interviewing witnesses and trying to get confessions and all that you read some crime novels or see on tv series (again, CSI.) Which I think makes it more realistic because there's not much drama going on. It's actually quite interesting for me. Another good bit for me is, although you know there's the twist at the end, I wasn't able to figure out who it was. Cause whenever I read a mystery or crime novel I always want to guess who the killer is. And not to brag, but I almost always get it right. So that was a little fun too. The reveal at the end was sorta predictable still, but it goes with the novel. 

So all in all, if I were to rate Coffin Knows the Answer: I'd give it a solid 5/10. Predictable yes, but still a solid read. Good for when you're just out in your patio relaxing or some light reading before bed, accompanied with a hot beverage.