I Only Read Murder

I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson and Will Ferguson is a book that I found a challenge to finish (I wanted to quit reading after the first three pages). Miranda Abbott is an extremely unlikeable character. Miranda is so self-absorbed that I am surprised that she noticed someone was murdered. I believe the story is meant to be humorous, but I found myself cringing and rolling my eyes (instead of laughing). The story takes place in a cliched small town with unoriginal characters. The secondary characters are flat. The pacing is slow (snails move faster) and repetitious details (it was so bad that I knew the information by heart by the end of the book). The author spelled everything out to readers (like we are dimwitted nitwits). There are inconsistencies in the story as well. The murder does not happen until nearly halfway through the story (reminded me of trudging up a big hill on a very hot day—it takes forever to get there). The investigation by Miranda (who thinks she knows everything about investigating a whodunit from the character she played on a television series) is simple and so is the crime. The killer is obvious. I ended up skimming to the end (I was fed up with Miranda). The ending had me groaning in disbelief. I Only Read Murder was cliched, trite, and monotonous.