Spoiler Discussion (June 2018) Value Read - Sentence Of Death, by A.P. Martin

[Erunyauve]

There were certainly signs pointing to JP throughout, but I didn't guess his motive. The storyline did keep me guessing, and I always like to learn a bit about something totally unrelated in a book.

The author's notes indicate that that he or she might or might not develop it into a series. There were a number of scenes that could probably be scrapped or revised without the context of building a series - they had no real impact on the storyline. And I wasn't entirely charmed by the way women were portrayed - Olivia is fantastic, but I could have done without Serena, and the DCI is spineless.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed it quite a bit - as I noted, Olivia is an appealing character, and the background discussion of the opera was quite interesting by itself.

[G.J.]

Erunyauve wrote: "There were certainly signs pointing to JP throughout, but I didn't guess his motive. The storyline did keep me guessing, and I always like to learn a bit about something totally unrelated in a book..."

Interesting thoughts, I too was none too keen on Serena, however I thought the DCI acted as I would have expected, one assumes there is a huge amount of pressure when trying to track down a killer , do you think she gave in too quickly when she took Sam off the case ? Just curious :-)

[Erunyauve]

I think I was most annoyed that she put Harrison back in charge - if anything warranted an internal investigation, it was his bullying of an illiterate homeless man into a confession. That should have put his entire career in question, or at very least warranted some heavy pressure to retire. She didn't seem to have a very good grasp on her people.

[AngryGreyCat]

I seem to be a bit in the minority here. Although I found the killer somewhat obvious rather early on, I was charmed by the Wagner opera theme and I liked the character of Olivia.

I find it interesting that there seem to be lots of connections between mysteries and opera. I mean operas themselves often have murders, but many murder mysteries have opera themes or elements. Morse was a Wagner fan. Wallander likes Puccini.
Ngaio Marsh wrote one of her books with an opera setting.
Ann Pratchett's Bel Canto novel which was adapted into an opera
Michael Dibden Cosi Fan Tutti is a take on the opera.

[G.J.]

AngryGreyCat wrote: "I seem to be a bit in the minority here. Although I found the killer somewhat obvious rather early on, I was charmed by the Wagner opera theme and I liked the character of Olivia.

I find it inter..."

One of the reasons I loved this book was it’s intelligent connection to Opera

[AngryGreyCat]

G.J. wrote: "AngryGreyCat wrote: "I seem to be a bit in the minority here. Although I found the killer somewhat obvious rather early on, I was charmed by the Wagner opera theme and I liked the character of Oliv..."

Yes - being a Morse fan I've listened to a lot of Wagner and so it was interesting to make that connection to another book. I'm not an opera expert by any means but I do enjoy it.