A Fatal Flaw: Ryder & Loveday, Book 3

Unfortunately I have come to expect e-books to contain mistakes. In this regard, this book did not disappoint. In several places wrong words were used. Even the main character's last name was wrong twice. As someone who has proofed an author friend's books from time to time, this type mistake should be rather easily found. There is even software that can help with this. In some places there were also things that seemed out of place. Disappointing.As to the story line, I came away disappointed. I have read the other books in this series and enjoyed them. This story seemed a bit shallow to me.

Plot... Both dull and implausible. Characters ... unengaging.Climax... predictable yet unsatisfying.I have been a great fan of Faith Martin for years, which makes my disappointment now all the greater. Better luck with the next one!

It did not take long for me to fall in love with Ryder and Loveday. I love the Hillary Greene series and was sorry to see her go, wondering if Faith Martin could invent a new character to steal my heart like Hillary did. This is the 3rd book in the new series and by far the best. It left me wanting more and I can’t wait for the 4th book. Clement Ryder has Parkinson’s disease, causing him to give up his life as a surgeon. Through the first 3 books, Trudy is suspicious that he might be an alcoholic as she glimpses subtle signs of his disease. She finally discovers the truth in an unconventional way and realizes how wrong she was about him. We won’t really know how she handles this information until the next book, but we do know that this elderly doctor and young police cadet have become close and fast friends who compliment each other while working together on a murder case. Once again Faith Martin has made her characters lovable, believable and oh so very real. I can’t help but lose myself in her books once I open to page 1.

Coroner Clement Ryder holds an inquest into the death of Abigail Trent. The young lady, a contestant in a local beauty pageant (Miss Oxford Honey Beauty Pageant), was found dead. She was poisoned and police believe her death was a suicide. Her friends and family say Abigail was not suicidal. The inquest jury returns an open verdict, giving Ryder a chance to investigate... Ryder gets WPC Trudy Loveday assigned to assist him with the case...Ryder and Loveday begin their investigation in an unexpected way — they go undercover at the beauty pageant... The prankster continues to work behind the scenes... Each pageant participant has a reason for wanting to win... Are the prankster and the killer the same person?I got lost in this story, following the clues with Ryder and Loveday... After a little while, I picked the person/s I thought was/were the most likely suspect/s with the best motive/s, and read on to see if I was right (I was)... The twist at the end was a bit of a surprise... This was a pleasant afternoon read...AfterThought: I enjoy the Ryder Loveday series, but the Hillary Greene series by Ms. Martin is much better...

This book gives much more than is typically on offer in this genre, even more than another of Faith Martin's series. It is precisely spoken with good flow and strong dialog. The characters are well developed and grow. There were no "heroine misses the obvious and runs foolishly into danger" moments. The roles portrayed by the characters actually suited them. No civilian was absurdly stepping in where actual investigators belong. The story was simple rather than convoluted, but still of interest throughout. There were overarching themes as well as a mystery. And the author's deep knowledge of flora and fauna were subtly shared.If you want a light but exceptionally well written mystery, this is for you.

I was disappointed by A Fatal Flaw. There was way too much vamping in and around the beauty contest and the continuous use of characters shutting the reader out of key pieces of knowledge made the puzzle less of a game. As a steady reader of Faith Martin, I think I'll skip the next one in this series.

I really enjoyed the Hillary Greene series, so I thought I would try this series. It's not the same at all, the characters are shallow and trying for that cutsey-perkey tone and limited vocabulary of the worst cozy genre. It is hard to believe that it is the same author. In this book in particular, cutesy-perkey collides with downright sadism to make a revolting mess. Oh sure it all comes out fine in the end, we are in the cozy genre after all, but this is a nauseating book. I won't be reading more.

I was surprised to learn that average families in the UK did not have telephones in 1960. I am about 10 years younger than the main character in this book. Growing up in Southern California in the 1950s, we always had a telephone although it was a party line for a few years. Even my mother's parents in a tiny town in Kansas had a hand cranked telephone in those days.

A series of stories about a WPC in her fledgling days learning her career helped by the best professional in the profession. I can see and only hope that these fascinating stories develop into a long series. They have certainly taken up a lot of my leisure and reading time and filling a space left by a certain Detective Hillary (sigh). More please Faith.

She usually has a reasonable story to tell.I always read her books with that in mind BECAUSE there are many occasions when the flow of narrative breaks down, at least for me, with an odd word attributed to the thoughts of a character that I might expect to be well hidden in a dictionary that he/she would never buy!!At least in this book all police personnel kept the same rank throughout but that may be due more to there being very few.But again she sets an early opening scene with what hit me as an unresearched error about the Loveday family listening to Hancock on radio in 1960 when my quick online check shows it will have been television only at that time. I am that old to remember the TV but never heard the radio version.I CAPITALISED the word "because" because she seemed determined never to use it and after the first few times she opted for "FOR" as an alternative it became a constant irritation BECAUSE it crops up so many times.A reasonable story for the price on kIndle.

First of all I have to say that I love Ryder and Loveday . They have different backgrounds, are totally different ages and have different abilities and experience. But despite all that they work well together, and the first 2 books were extremely well written.However this book has lost something, it still has the atmosphere and attitudes of the period that I loved so much before. But this book seems to just go through the motions, there just wasn't the edge we had before.Having said all that, I will be reading book 4, as I believe (hope) that this was a blip in the series.

I have quite enjoyed the first two novels in this series but this one is the last I will read. I too was 20 in the 60s and I don’t recognise the vacuous young women portrayed in the beauty contest. As I remember it we were all optimistic and ambitious for what seemed a bright future as women. No one I knew was ‘after’ a rich husband! Too many stereotypes throughout.

Couldn’t quite get into this one but I think probably storyline was’t really broad enough for my taste so just didn’t appeal to me. A 50’s beauty contest marred by murder and revenge however some of the emphasis was a bit repetitive. I like the partnership that this series has generated and is reasonably atmospheric for the period but certainly preferred and enjoyed the previous two books more. Live in hopes that next the book is more in keeping with standard previously set.