Book Review - Murder on the Hill, (Harley Hill Mystery, Book 1) by Kennedy Chase

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I downloaded this book because it was a cozy mystery by an author I had never read and because it had more than 350 reviews on Amazon with 50% being five stars.  I rarely will not finish a book that I have paid for and started. This book was an exception.  I really did not like it at all. I forced myself to read about one-third but after that I gave up.

I had to check several times to see if I had missed the first book in the series - I had not. I tried to take into account that the main character lived outside of London and as such would have some cultural differences. I've been to London a few times and I love the people. In fact, my best friend is British but that wasn't my problem with this book.

The characters were not believable. The protagonist, Harley Hill's claim to fame is that she's a criminal, chased by her bookie for money owed. She gets a job working as a finder to help figure out why someone broke into a jewelry store and left only a Chinese object representing bad energy.

The reader is supposed to feel empathy for her horrible childhood shuffled between different foster homes. I didn't find anything to actually like about the character. She plans to steal from her new boss to pay off her bookie and only doesn't because she almost gets caught trying to find a diamond.

As I stated, I gave up after I couldn't force myself to read any more. I hate to write such a negative review of any book but this one was definitely not worth my time to read.

Happy Trails,

Leslie

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