Black Sheep: Susan Hill - 2013 ***

Susan Hill's 'Black Sheep' was overall very disappointing. Hill is usually such an expect at writing short stories and comprising so much into so little. Here I felt that she wasn't on top form. The story is centred around the mining community in a village called Mount of Zeal and what happens to he individuals who live there. The pacing was slow, maybe too slow in my opinion and when the tragic event happened near the end I literally pounced on it. I think if the novel had been longer I would've given up, but as it stands I dragged myself through it. I feel that Susan Hill only really works writing at this slow pace with her horror/ghost works.

Mrs Jeffries Dusts For Clues: Emily Brightwell 2013 **

I appear to be in the minority here, but I didn't find this book to be entertaining in the slightest. Mrs Jeffries, the housekeeper of  a Scotland Yard Inspector solves crimes when she's not dusting the tables and cleaning the windows without her employer knowing. What a charming idea. Well yes, but the execution of the story just didn't work. Within the first page you are plunged into the latest mystery without any warm up or introduction. The characters 

(of which there were far too many to keep track of) go out searching for clues by day (I have no idea when any of them do their actual jobs) and come back to the kitchen in the evening and tell each other what they have found. After a while this became a tad boring, and nothing was really happening in any aspect of the novel. Just when it seemed that the story was getting better, suddenly an ending comes out of the blue that is hastily summarised within 10 or so pages. I didn't really enjoy it overall and found it dragging by the half way point. Maybe it would help to read another in the series, but I think I will be leaving Emily Brightwell's books for the time being.