Murder by Milk Bottle /Lynne Truss

This is Lynne Truss’ fourth novel in the Constable Twitten series and not the best.

It is set in the her familiar milieu of 1950s Brighton where a series of murders are committed with a milk bottle.

The novel has humour and a good sense of time and location but there are a number of weaknesses :

1) There are no clues who the murderer is;

2) There are too many characters;

3) The dialogue is weak;

4) Constable Twitten is a prissy know-all;

By the fourth novel the 4 main characters – Inspector Steyne, Sergeant Brunswick, Constable Twitten (all names of places in Brighton and Rottingdean) and Mrs Groynes grate.

The story line is implausible but the novel saved by its humour and evocation of 1950s seaside life.

Having discovered a winning formula there is likely to be a 5th, 6th and 7th.

The key to a successful murder mystery is a detective with which the reader can identify – like Hercule Poirot or Bernie Gunther in the Philip  Kerr novels – so  Lynne, don’t push your luck.