Accidental Death

East End Murders #4

by Anne Cassidy

It's been three years since Billy's parents were killed, and Patsy isn't sure how time has healed him. The boy who did it is released from prison, but he soon ends up dead. Patsy doesn't know what to think, She must solve the crime, but she's afraid of what she might find?

Genres: Mystery

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[MK · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really disappointed with this one, for a number of reasons. I'd thought it would do a clever commentary on how mentally ill people tend to be the victims of crime moreso than perpetrators, but instead it turned that on its head and made the mentally ill person a 2-dimentional psycho villain. And after going through about 3 different twist scenarios that would have made far more sense, the ending conclusion was basically a non-character whose backstory was peddled out in a rush. After the buildup, it was dissatisfying. It felt like it was trying to be shocking for the sake of shock, and trying to do plot twist after plot twist for the sake of it, so much so that it became dull and uninteresting by the end. I'd really been into it in the beginning. But I quickly felt let down. Two more things that annoyed me: one, the return of two previous characters, Brian and Jerry. Brian can so obviously do better than Patsy, and there is no chemistry between them. All of their scenes are just awkward and not romantic. Jerry had cheated on her mother...why is he there again? Two: When her uncle Tony drops everything from his own vacation and comes back to help her, Patsy's first thought is to be the usual spoiled ungrateful brat about it. I don't understand why she's got this bad attitude towards her uncle when she simultaneously wants to work with him. I'm glad he'd chewed her out in the first book, and I hope he does it again (yes, I will continue reading the books. They're sitting on my bookshelf, after all, and USUALLY I like the mystery element). She's due for another one.

[Razwana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the whole Patsy Kelly Investigates teen crime fiction series. Loved reading these in my teens.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are so good, I can never guess who the killer is!
* Yikes, I wasn't expecting poor Billy to be framed for a murder he didn't commit!
* Sarah Dean seemed a bit fishy, she always seemed to be hiding something.
* It was strange that Patsy started dating Brian again, especially as she'd already dumped him once.
* I hope Billy is okay post-jail, he certainly seemed like a different person when Patsy visited him.