Not a particularly thrilling thriller, I found it a very slow burning story and it failed to keep my interest at times. My first encounter with inspector Crow, not certain if I would like to catch up with him again.

Thank you to Roy Lewis and Joffe books for this electronic ARC of A Lover Too Many via @netgalley in exchange for an honnest review.

Peter’s wife has been murdered and he becomes one of the prime suspects. Peter works as a solicitor and his partners decides he will have to find work elsewhere so they won’t have to deal with the aftermath. He then takes it upon himself to find out more about his wife’s affairs and her death with the help of a private detective, who also gets murdered in Peter’s home. The story is set in the 1960s so fingerprints, common sense and a keen eye is pretty much as far as it goes.

I found the writting style hard to understand and the story, who sounded promising, had a few irrelevant parts. The author goes into a huge amount of legal details throughout the novel that I did not understand. I skimmed through quite a few pages in the hopes that the story would pick back up. Some people may find this an enjoyable read, but from my point of view, it didn't quite meet my expectations.

3 and 1 /2 stars

The reader is in England in the late 1960’s. This book starts out a little different. It is told from Peter’s point of view for the first 25% or so, not the police as I usually read.

It begins with the coroner’s inquest. Peter Marlin is there. He is the husband of the slain woman Jeanette. She was missing from the home for several months before she suddenly came back. Peter ask where she was, but she wouldn’t tell him. When the verdict is returned “murder by person or person unknown” it comes as no surprise, but it is still a blow.

Peter is a solicitor at a rather prestigious firm. When he returns to work, the chief solicitor Stephen Sainsby calls him in the office and tells him that he can no longer work there. The firm is worried about how the murder of his wife would reflect on the firm.

So out of a job and with the specter of his wife’s death hanging over him, he goes to his girlfriend’s house. Her name is Shirley Walker. She has no sympathy for him as he confesses that he still loved his wife, but that he was “fond of her” (Shirley).

A new detective Inspector Crow from Scotland Yard is now going back and re-interviewing the suspects and witnesses. He goes to visit Shirley and Peter. Crow is very tall, very thin and bald. Peter is on the defensive immediately.

While this book was interesting, especially the writing style, it didn’t hold my interest. I have already forgotten many aspects of the plot. I liked Inspector Crow and the fact that it was a non-technological age (being in the 1960’s), did not bother me at all. In fact, it is refreshing to read about the age before there was DNA and so on. The reader really gets to appreciate the hard work that the detectives put into the investigation.

I want to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this book so that I may read, enjoy and review it.

A Lover Too Many by Roy Loomis
Inspector John Crow Book 1

Wanting to read what was touted as a reissue of a “classic mystery from an acclaimed writer” first published in the late 60’s I thought, “Why not?” I was in high school when this book was published and do remember days without cell phones and all the gadgets that no doubt have been developed to solve crimes more easily over the past fifty years or so. And, I kind of wondered how mystery novels have evolved over half a century, too. So, in I jumped meeting Inspector Crow on his first published murder mystery story.

The writing and crime solving and action is definitely different with less police procedural description and more description of people and thoughts and events instead. I believe in the past readers, including myself, relied on words to fill our minds and senses differently than we might these days when special effects and fast paced books and viewing options are so much more dynamic. That is not a bad thing…it just is.

I did enjoy the book. It took me back in time to an era when drinking and driving were more a norm than a taboo and to a time when societal expectations were different. Crow was reticent and didn’t seem to share his thinking often in solving of the case as many newer crime series tend to do. It was a tamer story in some ways rather than action-packed. I did some sleuthing of my own and have a feeling this book may be the author’s first published book as later series are all dated in the 80’s rather than earlier on. The blurb about the author says he has published over sixty books and I wonder how his writing developed over time so may look for another book by him in the future.

Did I enjoy the book? Yes & No
Yes because it is a classic and took me back in time
No because it did not grab my attention as quickly as some others
Would I read more in the series or by this author? I think so

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

This was an okay read but failed to engage me in parts. This is historical crime fiction set in the 1960s, where Inspector John Crow of Scotland Yard is brought in to solve the main mystery. It is an old fashioned world with none of the technology of our fast paced modern world. I liked it well enough and may even try another in the series, but it did not really wow me. This is for those who enjoy the atmosphere of yester year, with a likeable central character. In that respect, I am sure many others will enjoy this far more than I did.

(4.25 stars) This was a wonderful surprise. An intelligent, cleverly constructed mystery, with compassion for the characters and an appealing detective. It kept me guessing and I felt invested in the characters, which is precisely what I want in a crime novel.

When I saw this title on NetGalley I grabbed it immediately. Roy Lewis is a wonderful author, and it appears that Joffe is bringing him to Kindle. Lewis was active from the 1960’s into this century, and I have read and enjoyed most of his sixty plus crime novels. His series about Arnold Landon, a man with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of medieval building, has always been one of my very favorites. I couldn’t be happier at the thought of being able to reread these terrific books on Kindle.

Inspector John Crow is new to me. I have been wondering if perhaps this series was not imported into the United States. It looks to me as if this was Lewis’s first crime novel, so maybe they never reached here. It is a pity, though, as this is a cracking book. The blurb says it is full of twists and turns and it surely is. I don’t like spoilers, so I am not going to give any. Suffice it to say that the book begins with an inquest, and never lets up from there.

The publisher reminds the reader that this book was published in 1969, before cellphones, the internet, and the ubiquitous computer. To a twenty-first century eye this gives a bit of a feeling of a period piece, but the book is not dated or slow because of that. Because technology has not invaded every possible space, the human dimension is that much larger, and the story is more interesting because of it.

“A Lover Too Many” is an excellent mystery. I couldn’t have predicted the outcome, and I enjoyed it all the way through. If Roy Lewis is an old friend, you will be glad to remind yourself of just how good a mystery can be. If you have never had the pleasure of reading a mystery by Roy Lewis, you are in for a huge treat. Do yourself a favor and pick up “A Lover Too Many,” and any subsequent books by Roy Lewis. You might find other writers as good, but you will not find anyone better.

Sorry but this book wasn't for me, did try my best to like it but gave up on it at 20% just couldn't get into the storyline.

A good old fashioned and solid mystery. I loved the atmosphere, the main character and the plot.
The language is fascinating as the setting.
This book aged well and I look forward to reading other John Crow mysteries.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Joffe Books and Netgalley for this ARC

A LOVER TOO MANY introduces the reader to Inspector John Crow. He's a very tall man, rail thin, bald head, almost looks skeletal. But he's very good at what he does.

Peter Marlin's wife had been gone several months when she makes a reappearance. Unfortunately she is in the sitting room having been strangled.

Crow comes from Scotland Yard to investigate. Prime suspect --- the husband, who had found a girlfriend while his wife was gone. Marlin was rather surprised when he learned that his wife had also been having an affair.

This is a fast-paced mystery filled with twists and turns and lots of finger pointing. Set in England in the late 1960s, solving crime is difficult .. .there were no cell phones, no DNA tests, no personal computers. All Crow has to rely on is his own gut feelings and finding hard proof. Plot and characters are rooted firmly in their environment.

I look forward to following Detective Crow through his further adventures.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Netgalley / Books n All Promotions / Jill Burkinshaw for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.