Love Will Tear Us Apart is as completely and wonderfully bonkers as the previous two books in this series. I definitely recommend reading this series from the beginning to understand the characters backgrounds. Some of them have a retort for everything, and within the Times, that made sense because they are a close-knit group.

There is a new assistant editor to replace Hannah who to Banecroft's disgust has been given the job by the owner over his head. The Stranger Times is a newspaper under the stewardship of it’s editor-and-chief, the petulant and bitter Vincent Banecroft.

We can have all the hilarity and madcap scenes each book dishes out, but that intrigue is one of the master strokes of this series. But I agree that overall, this one delivers lots of humour, weirdness and at times – plain tragedy, in a page-turning adventure. Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. The opening chapters show us a Banecroft in even worse shape than before, and his odd behaviour has only gotten worse.

You need to be able to not take yourself, or the story too seriously, but they really are a riot to read and never fail to cheer me up. Look, if it will stop you all clucking like tedious hens, as it happens, I have the assistant-editor situation in hand.I especially liked seeing Hannah away from the newspaper in this book, not only because it meant we got to spend more time with her, but also because it meant we got to meet my favourite character, and a new one, Betty. The page space could have been used for delving into the subtleties of the characters’ actions, which I could have done with more. It remains just as strong, maybe even stronger, after the conclusion of this book, the third in the series.

Without Hannah around to hold him accountable for his actions, Banecroft sets off on a course of actions that pits him against everyone and sees him follow his wife to the grave.

In McDonnell’s third instalment following the journalists of The Stranger Times, we join the action after Hannah has abruptly left, and everyone is convinced Banecroft is responsible for it. The humor is all based on these weirdos interacting with each other in a very immediate sort of way. Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times. And happily lacking the “tormented past” of many UF protagonists: the characters have their troubles to deal with, but it’s done with such a good dose of tongue-in-cheek humor that it enlightens the story instead of darkening it. The rest of the staff aren't quite sure what to make of what is happening but they are soon put to work solving the latest mystery.

We do have some sort of a case in every book to move the plot, but also there is an overarching thing going on. This did make it pretty hard to get into for me but once over the initial hump the story picked up and it's good fun. When Hannah Willis, his assistant editor, suddenly hands in her notice and decides to go to a celebrity health spa with the possibility of her getting back together with her wayward husband, Vincent does a doubletake.I don't think I can recommend reading this as a standalone but you can definitely read it while not perfectly remembering what happend in the previous one. Hannah - the assistant editor - has left, gone back to her ex husband, and Banecroft is more deranged than ever. I have to admit that I felt deep compassion for this loudmouthed, uncouth character whose manners are as inexcusable as his own personal hygiene, and I followed the narrative thread concerning his quest with great trepidation.