The Digital Renaissance: Review: Die Again, Mr. Holmes

Thursday, June 8, 2023

Review: Die Again, Mr. Holmes

Die Again, Mr. Holmes by Anna Elliott
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Performance: ****

Story: **

A Mixed bag and Missed Opportunity

Another solid performance from this narrating duo; and frankly that is was saves this story. By now it is de riguour to present two mysteries that converge toward the end. Lucy investigates a missing person while Holmes tries to unravel a similar case that appears to involve an opium smuggling scheme … which is the first misstep. As noted several times in the story, selling opium was actually legal at the time, so such an operation must therefore take huge risks just to avoid the custom fees (which I am sure would be able to fund such a powerful cartel </sarcasm>). Stir in a bit of moralizing and preaching about the evils of said legal product and it all seems quite out of place for the time period. To make matters so much worse … the story appears to glorify torture and kidnapping (by the good guys) that is very nearly a bridge too far for me; I expected a lot more perception and deduction for a Holmes story (it is after all what lifts such stories above its peers). To be clear … the story is not too bad, I was just expecting better so it was an overall disappointment.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.