Phew, I'm afraid this was neither here nor there. Despite a gruesome murder with a decapitated corpse and more murders down the line, it feels like nothing much really happens in Blood Fountain. Mostly, the novel consists of the author's typical swooning over the beauty of the Wensleydale region with Harry and his team spending a lot of time thinking about what tasty treat they might eat next.
This was quite charming in earlier novels but it's frankly getting a bit old by now, especially since the ratio of Northern Yorkshire worshipping to crime solving seems to have arrived at 70-30. At times, Blood Fountain reads more like an elaborate travel brochure than like a crime novel.
The murder investigation, if you can call it that, comes across as quite unhurried and seems to lead nowhere until Harry once again basically solves the murders by accident within the last couple of pages. What's even worse, the solution still isn't surprising at all, while the motive for the murders is incredibly silly and unbelievable. And really, why are people not more nervous about a smalltown murder case involving a decapitated corpse?
Honestly, I think David J. Gatward might be stretching himself a bit thin with his spin-off series about Gordy and his generally very hight output. Maybe he should slow down a bit, because the quality of his more recent novels hasn't been that great. On a more positive note, David J. Gatward seems to be done with the aggressive journalist bashing from previous novels for the moment, so there is some light at the end of the tunnel.