The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell

 
The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell
My Rating: ★

I received a copy from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Luke Tremblay discovered his partner of four years was cheating on him, his life was turned upside down. Then he gets a call informing him that his aunt was killed in a hit and run accident, and that she left her home and business to him. Luke doesn’t know what he’s more shocked by: her untimely and violent death, or the fact that she left her home and business to her estranged nephew. The only thing Luke can see coming out of this is that selling the house and business in Crescent Cove will help him buy out his ex’s share of their townhouse, but then someone gets murdered at his aunt’s house and he’s the number one suspect!

I was excited to pick up this book because I love cozy mysteries and wish there were more LGBT protagonists in the genre. Plus, the book sounded interesting and I was excited to dive into the story. Unfortunately for me, it was a total miss, though I think the basic plot had something going for it. Luke is a freelance investigative journalist who is now saddled with investigating his aunt’s murder, which is connected to the murder of the man who just turned up dead on her property who previously tried to break into her house! However, Luke seems far more interested in selling her house and business even though she just passed away. I don’t know what the laws are in Canada, but Luke is about to list his newly inherited assets for sale when it’s been under two weeks since his aunt’s passing. It took me straight out of the story because I doubt the time frame is anywhere close to the one Luke is working with.

On top of that, Luke’s investigation is pretty careless for someone who is an investigative journalist. I could go into details, but then I’d have to drop some spoilers. Let’s just say that some of the mistakes he makes are pretty big for someone who should know at least a little better. I wouldn’t expect amazing sleuthing skills, but I’m having a hard time believing he’s as great of an investigative journalist as he’s supposed to be based on how about half of his investigation went.

I did like the romance plot, though. It’s a very slow burn and it hasn’t gotten much wind yet, but I think there’s definitely something there. By the end of Luke’s second meeting with Jack, I was rooting for them. I think that there’s a lot of potential here and I really like Jack as a character. In fact, I actually like Jack a lot more than Luke and would like to read a series following him instead. The romance could’ve done without the strange almost love triangle setup. However, it did make me realize who was behind the killings long before there was much information to go on to form a theory, so I guess it did serve a purpose.

Speaking of the characters, I really like Jack and some of the other supporting characters. They each had a lot of personality, including the few that rarely made an appearance. A few of them ran circles around poor Luke, who doesn’t have much of a personality and appears to have checked out some time ago. I almost wish the book was told through rotating narrators so that we got to follow a cast of characters, which would be pretty interesting to read. Instead, we follow Luke, who is pretty bland and lacks any kind of charm that makes one want to follow his perspective.

All in all, there were more low points than high points. I really liked the descriptions of Crescent Cove, some of the supporting characters, the basic plot, and the groundwork for a budding romance. However, Luke isn’t a believable investigative journalist and the mystery just does not add up. There were also several passages that read like it came from a book set on Earth that’s sitting in a UFO somewhere in deep space, which kept taking me out of the story. I think it’s a rocky series opener, but I also think that there could be some potential here if the next book tightens a lot of the screws that are either loose or missing.