Although I'm rating this book 2/5, I can't understand the low ratings, even if I'm contributing to its low average. I'm used to my harsh rating system, which is ironic, as I'm easily pleased during the actual act of reading a book. It's just that books need to achieve something to earn 4 or 5 stars. As for this book, the story was running along familiar lines, which is unavoidable in a series of 20 books.

The clearly wrong arrest of a murder suspect, the paucity of progress in Lucy Stone's investigation. The murderer revealing herself due to rising panic, acquired from watching Lucy ask about. The case was neatly tied up by showing the article of the Pennysaver, but a couple of things went unsolved, or at least unmentioned. It looks like my rating does not tally with my reading experience, but it all boils down to how the writer fills in the bits of the book that are meant to be filler.

I didn't get a sense of familial dynamics that were the hallmark of earlier books in the series. The thing with this book is that, for me, both good and bad aspects are present in few times. The book being short is not a problem. I always take it as a sign of dishonesty when a writer who churns out 250 paged books suddenly spikes her output with 400 plus paged ones. Here I know what I'm getting into. So this one is good but not good enough.