Who Killed Marilyn Monroe? by Liz Evans

Another murder mystery, but this one could hardly be further removed from The Da Vinci Code - in style, quality, focus, impact and every other imaginable characteristic. The murder in question is that of a donkey named Marilyn Monroe, and PI Grace Smith is hired to find the killer. However, the case seems to become inextricably linked with the murder of a young prostitute on the same night that the donkey met its end. This segue occurs by some process which is no doubt clear to the author, but which she chooses not to share with her audience.

Before long Grace is investigating both murders, making leaps of reasoning which make no sense at all, acting without any logical basis, and managing at the same time to suffer every accident of clumsiness and indignity imaginable - from having her tie eaten by a donkey, to being clobbered by a passing wing mirror, to landing up with an unsteerable trolley at a supermarket. Presumably that sort of thing is meant to build her character and add to her personality. Somehow. And presumably, by the end, we're meant to be staggered that she so cleverly tracked down the man responsible for both murders. Somehow.

I read it because it happened to be on the shelf near my bed, and it had an attractive bright yellow cover. There are probably worse selection criteria out there somewhere. I'd love to know about them so I can steer clear.