Valley of Ashes
Valley of Ashes by Cornelia Read
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I have read all the Madeline Dare mysteries. I loved most of them, even with the over the top “patois” Cornelia Read’s females use (Bunny still calls everyone “Dude”, and has some strings of creative cursing with her friend Ellis, but the dialect pervading past novels was gone.)
I’ve recommended past entries in this series to my Mystery Book Group.
But Valley of Ashes….what a mess.
There is really no mystery here, just a long, drawn out dissolution of Madeline’s marriage.
How did such a strong, interesting female character become such a whining ninny?
There is a murder, and a string of fires labeled arson. But they are secondary, no-strike that–background noise really. All we get is Madeline’s increasingly boring stay-at-home Mommy routine, how miserable she is, what an ass her husband is, and glimpses of her adorable twins. I think we are 25 chapters in before there is even a hint of something mysterious going on.
There are strands of possibilities in the story that are just left hanging. And long, boring details about the fires–and then the solving of this case is related to absolutely nothing that has happened in the story. Wrapped up as a coda towards the end…meaningless. And the murderer? Ridiculous.
And then, just when you think it’s over…there are these bizarre last few chapters tacked on. I’m still trying to figure out why any editor would have let this mess of an ending happen.
Big disappointment.