The Ex-Wife (The DS Cross Mysteries #4.5), by Tim Sullivan
The Ex-Wife by Tim Sullivan
Read my Goodreads review
The premise suits George Cross: a conviction seems settled, but one detail keeps him wondering whether a second death was missed. That gives this cold-case novella a neat hook, and the brisk opening wastes little time.
Yet at twenty-eight pages, “The Ex-Wife” feels less like a compact mystery than a synopsis of a fuller one. Interviews and clues arrive before they can gather much weight, leaving little space for the investigation, Cross’s colleagues, or the victims to develop. The moral emphasis is harder to accept. The narrator’s insistence that »Everyone from the press to the prosecution was rightly appalled« sets the tone, and the story repeatedly underlines the injustice of the earlier failure. The concern is understandable, but the writing feels preachy: it announces its judgement instead of trusting the case to make it.
There is a good Cross mystery here, but not enough story around it. I finished wanting more room, sharper restraint, and a full-length investigation. Readable, but not a favourite.
Three out of five stars.
Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
