A Presumption of Death

I’m reading the second of the Jill Paton Walsh novels that expand the Lord Peter Wimsey / Harriet Vane series, and this one is stressing me out, because there’s one character who’s ridiculously suspicious, and Harriet isn’t even noticing. ( ”Spoilers” )

I mean, I hope it’s a red herring, but it doesn’t seem we’re being set up for that. I want the mystery to be a higher quality than this. Or rather, there’s still plenty of room for twists and turns, but regardless of what’s eventually uncovered, I want _Harriet_ to be a higher quality than this.

Update. Okay, the plot seems to be redeeming itself, fortunately, but it took 46 pages for Harriet to remember what she’d seen, and that’s not right.