the reader of books

An unpleasant and uninteresting mystery. Despite having "Solve more mysteries" as a New Year's resolution, I am an uninspired detective ("The butler did it!"), but even I guessed the murderer pretty much from the moment they graced the pages. All the characters are horrible people, except for Stephen, who happens to be on death row for killing his father and who, of course, is angelic and perfect. The characterizations are flat (and why must everyone be so detestable?), the plot is predictable (in the history of mysteries, has there ever been a flashback in the prologue that isn't somehow related to the murder?), and the writing is pedestrian. And the very end! Just no.

I feel mean saying all this because I didn't exactly hate the book and managed to stumble through, but I didn't like it very much.