The cover and the hook really drew me to this book. A woman walking in the forest comes across a mysterious note about a murder, but no body. I was expecting an eery literary puzzle to unfold.

Unfortunately I was very disappointed. This book really takes its time to get to nowhere. What little plot there is meanders, as the author details the anxious thoughts of a fragile protagonist.

It was difficult to even consider ‘Death in Her Hands’ for its own merits, since it seems like a copy and paste of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk.

Both books are cozy mysteries featuring an older woman living in an isolated cabin, written in a stream of consciousness. Unreliable narration, the emotional importance of pet dogs, references to William Blake, grief and loneliness, all feature heavily. Both stories follow a similar plot, with the protagonist becoming increasingly unhinged from reality.

I did not particularly enjoy ‘Drive Your Plow…’, and I liked it even less the second time around with the new title ‘Death in her Hands’.

1 out of 5 boring bagels.

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For a more hard hitting mystery, I would recommend ‘All the Birds, Singing’.

Review: All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

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