When in a Hole, Stop Digging by Colin Goodwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When in a Hole, Stop Digging is the second book in a series of comedy tales set in a fictional northern England village. A mystery surrounds a drained portion of a canal, a flooding of a new housing estate, murder and a multitude of characters seeking revenge for all sorts of misdemeanours.
There is a large cast of characters in this comedy of errors as more than one person sets themselves up as detectives to solve a case which at first has left few clues. The Lancashire style humour and slapstick disasters are the main feature.
I would like to see a wider use of description to build pictures in my head of the characters, I’m sure the author sees them but they aren’t transposed onto the pages. There are also some dialogue tags which begin to grate a little, too may people barking and screaming at each other.
Overall a light fun read about antics in a rather mad English village.
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Book Description
An ordinary day in a sleepy village deteriorates into chaos. Livid boat owner Albert vows revenge after a humiliating event, and shocked residents of a brand new housing estate mysteriously find fish in the plumbing. A heartless double murderer on the loose and a gun-toting farmer send shivers through the town of Throttle as two amateur sleuths try to make sense of it all. Meanwhile a pair of sixties throwback detectives attempt to piece it all together, but in reality make matters worse. The local free press needs a story fast, but the novice reporters get a shock as they enter a world far beyond their capability. Finally, one resident, pushed to the edge by a marital issue, sinks to a new low. The mayhem continues…
Rosie Amber 