Review: 
Well, this was different…
A noir-style mystery set in alternative version (one hopes!) of Aberystwyth, where a Druid mob silences its opposition by making them … disappear or just kills about anyone who knows too much.
And all because the Grand Wizard is… Ah. Hehe.
The mystery in this one started off intriguing. A schoolboy has disappeared. Then other schoolboys turn up dead. So, when Aberystwyth’s finest … and only … private eye is hired to investigate, the mystery turns into a spoofy, yet, gritty detective story that tries and tries.
This issue I have is that I am not sure what it tried exactly.
The noir feel was there, certainly, but the spoofiness didn’t really work for me. Maybe it was the lack of subtlety, maybe it was the abundance of schoolboy humour (gaah…), maybe it was abrupt (and somewhat predictable) ending. I don’t know. What I do know is that this book made me want to pick up a Thursday Next novel again…which, btw, also features Wales in a special light, even tho slightly differently.
I’m glad I read this, and parts of the book were funny, but I’m not going to continue with the series.
Original post:
BrokenTune.booklikes.com/post/1778785/aberystwyth-mon-amour
Broken Tune's Blog 
I really enjoyed the Thursday Next novels but after the 4th(?) I got distracted by life and other books and never finished the series. A while ago it was on sale for Kindle and I got the books I was still missing but by now I probably need to start from book one again because I only remember bits and pieces.
And that review reminds me somewhat of…The Egg Cozy Mystery or whatever the title was. That was also a cozy mystery parody that…well tried.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Noted. I’ll give The Egg Cozy Mystery a wide berth. I like the Thursday Next series but only some of the books. I think I hated every second one…and eventually stopped after # 5 or so? There are some crackers in the series but at some point it felt like Fforde ran out of ideas and even out of interest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jasper Ffordes Last Dragonslayer Trilogie is not only written for kids. Perhaps you’ll like.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a love-hate relationship with his Thursday Next series (Pickwick needs a bigger part!), but would not mind trying something else by him. Thanks for the recommendation!
LikeLike