Too much of Matakana?

Blood On The Vines by Madeleine Eskedahl, Squabbling Sparrows Press, $34.95

In the wine producing area of Martinborough a former wine maker is brutally murdered. Very brutally, reminiscent of a Paul Cleeve crime novel.

Meanwhile up north sinister events are unfolding.

A busy family living in Matakana arise to find there is no water for their showers. Their dad is roused for action. He disappears under the house to check the water tanks. Shortly afterwards he reappears ashen faced. While looking for the tanks his torchlight fell upon a severed hand. The local police are notified and thus begins the upheaval of four friends with a shared past from long ago.

It is difficult to review crime thrillers without giving too much away. Enough to say revenge rears its ugly head.

This is Madeleine Eskedahl’s first book in a series and I don’t want to be too critical as writing a book is quite a mammoth task, but I felt this book needed some editing. Eskedahl is in love with the Matakana area, but her descriptions of all that is beautiful in Matakana tended to make reading this tedious. The efforts to make this a New Zealand crime story appear studied. Even in crime stories the reader needs to feel affinity with some or one of the characters. I didn’t feel much affinity with any of the characters. However, Blood On Vines appears to be getting very positive reviews from other sources.