The story itself is a traditional “locked room” whodunit and when local hotelier Aslan Kennedy is found murdered inside a locked room it seems an open and shut case – only five other people were in that room and one has confessed, after all. I do agree with you that it’s overlong, but I say that so often about contemporary books that I should probably create a template for it.

It happens during a meditation in a paper room but the girl (fair Julie) who confessed to it couldn't have had done it. An English Policeman get sent to a Caribbean Island to solve the murder of the chief detective and he gets kinda stuck there and he somewhat like a fish out of the water except this policeman is deadly afraid of water.The editing is very sloppy as well, with a notable clanger being the character of Selwyn Patterson being referred to as "Selwyn Hamilton" early in the book then by his proper name when he finally shows up.

addressing the legacy of slavery, treating Vodun as a serious religion, and condemning the actions of British colonists and French settlers in the Caribbean. One murder victim, five suspects and a room no person entered or left; the classic murder in a locked room conundrum.

Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered, and fed up with talking to witnesses who'd rather discuss his 'aura' than their whereabouts at the time of the murder.

Weel worth your time reading, have you not seen the show yet, go and watch it first and after you have fallen in love with them read the book (and the next two, I know I want to). Aslan Kennedy has an idyllic life: leader of a spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers on one of the Caribbean's most unspoilt islands, Saint Marie. Their camaraderie is good – they have a rapport with each other and there is chemistry but I am glad that the author resisted any impulse for them to get together – In a lot of ways Richard and Camille would make a wonderful couple – but it should never actually happen. Twitter creeping has revealed that there are some people out there who think they have amazing chemistry, but I assume they've been watching a different show to me.

The rest of the team, all being local, just don’t understand him at all, but they all appreciate the way his mind works – eventually – after being exasperated by his methods. A great celebration of the original show as written by the original creator of the show with charcters he thought of first. Something else I enjoy about the way the puzzle is constructed in this novel is that the author does not recourse to having their sleuth discover crucial evidence off the page and instead the reader is shown the data he has collected and the questions he has about it. The island setting and the characters are just as they are in the series, and the story very much follows the way that the episodes are plotted. He has a phobia of sand and insists on wearing wool suits in the worst of heat- because that is what detective inspectors do.

Another parallel with book 2 in the series is that we are initially presented with a seemingly open and shut case, yet because of various intriguing aspects and irregularities uncovered, we know it won’t be so simple as all that. I also assumed that it might take place on one of the Caribbean islands (because- Death in Paradise). Having been relaxing with headphones and eye-masks the murder was only discovered when the apparent murderer starts screaming. There is a big difference between writing a screenplay and writing a novel, and this book is case in point.

Nevertheless, the puzzle kept me guessing until the end, with only my third option being the right one (not sure it counts when it takes that many attempts! And in true fashion, I read it in the voices and mannerisms of each of the other Monore Police officers. While at Cambridge, he toured with the university's student comedy troupe Footlights in 1993 and was elected President in 1994.