Review: Murder on the Clyde (Detective Lola Harris Mysteries Book 3) by Daniel Sellers

                                                      

Print Length: 391 pages

Publisher: Joffe Books (April 18, 2024)

From Goodreads.com: Detective Lola is heading back over the river from a rare night out when she spots a crowd of people looking over the parapet. Someone’s gone in. A young man called Cammy witnessed everything. He swears it’s the work of the Clyde Pusher, but is terrified of the police. 

The Clyde Pusher is the stuff of urban legend. A hooded figure who throws men into the river to drown. Eight victims in five years. But according to the police, the Pusher doesn’t exist. There are no reliable witnesses, nothing to link the victims. Lola starts looking into the case unofficially but gets a rap on the knuckles from her higher-ups for nosing around. 

Someone is trying to derail the investigation. What are they trying to cover up?

  

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My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

To begin with I have to know what it is with authors and writing so many chapters. In this case there are NINETY. And sure, they are on the shorter side and the plotline moves along at a steady pace, but do they have any idea just how intimidating that is for a reader? 

Moving on to my review. 

On the plus side, I liked this installment much more than I liked the first one (Murder on the Gallowgate). I found that while Lola was still very much the brash, take no shit Detective that she was in the first one, she had also softened a bit around the edges. I liked how she pushed back when she realized that things were not adding up, and how she wasn't afraid to stand her ground against the people doing the covering up. 

In addition, finally giving her a team who actually listened to her and worked with her instead of trying to undermine her at every turn was a refreshing change from the first book. I was also pleasantly surprised as to who the killer was. I had my ideas, of course, but the truth was so much more interesting. 

On the flip side, when it comes to the rest of the cast? They either faded into the background becoming harder to distinguish one from the other, or they were so over the top in their... should I call it villainy or stupidity? Either way, they were so unbelievable that it was comical. And of course, we have men in positions of power who hate Lola and glare at her and try to undermine (or outright stop) what she's doing at every turn. Now I'm not so naïve that I don't know this happens in the real world, but the fact that it happens to Lola so often (and at every turn) just makes me wonder if there is something in the water in Scotland that makes their officials so corrupt, or if it's just the author is for some reason jaded towards cops (especially of the male variety). 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.