A Dagger Before Me

Dams, Jeanne M. A Dagger Before Me. Scottsdale, Arizona: Poisoned Pen Press, 2019.

The first half of the book more or less is nothing but a story of village life and traveling about England and a collection of odd British facts. About halfway into the book, Dorothy and Alan visit one of Alan's former colleague's sons to be godparents at the christening of a newborn son. A rite involving a dagger must be performed at the christening so the boy can inherit according to the estate's entail. Unfortunately the dagger is missing. Then a woman claiming to be mother of the current estate holder is found with a dagger in her back although she died of smoke inhalation. Alan and Dorothy assist a bit but most of the investigation is handled by the police. The ending seemed a bit abrupt. A better editor would have told the author to cut the first half of the book and expand the rest. Waiting until halfway through a book for a stolen dagger and corpse is too long in a mystery. I used to love the Dorothy Martin series but the last few I read contain major problems. Dams needs to decide whether she wants to write about village life or mysteries and stick with the genre. I received an advance electronic review copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.