This was a strange book, in ways. The rest of my department at work can vouch for the fact that I am not the person you go to for personal experience reading cozy mysteries. It's not that I don't understand that people may want mysteries without high levels of gore, it's that while I can suspend disbelief all day long about, say, the existence of dragons, I have trouble buying amateur detectives- with series-length careers, no less, not just somebody who stumbles into a one-time situation in which they have good reason to get involved- in anything that resembles the modern real world. So, I don't read a lot of cozies. And while this is an amateur detective novel, unlike most cozies, I would have a very hard time suggesting it to fans of what my readers' advisory class in grad. school called "gentle reads." This book makes no bones about violence and many instances of sexual assault and rape, including pedophilia. And yet, the tone is extremely decorous. In spite of the gritty subject matter, the style is more in line with what I would expect of a cozy mystery, with sidebars about the need to acquire a new mourning wardrobe. I have nothing against the subject matter but sometimes found myself put out by the tone, and I have no doubt that there are many people who enjoy this sort of tone in mysteries who wouldn't be able to stomach the subject matter. But I can't say that it wasn't a good puzzle; I'm just not sure that it's blend of subgenres might not limit its audience rather than expanding it.
Overall: B