Debut mystery which shows author’s inexperience

Protocol (A Maggie O’Malley Mystery) (Volume 1)

By: Kathleen Valenti

Rating: 3 of 5

protocol“Protocol” is the debut mystery novel by Kathleen Valenti. The plot line wanders around quite a bit but which comes back and ends well. The book could have used considerably more editing to tighten it up. For me, the ending brought my original rating of 2 up to a 3 star overall.

In addition, the main character does everything wrong. It seems if you want Maggie to do something right, you need to tell her to do the opposite. While that is okay once in a while, Maggie does it consistently and consistently ends up in hot water because of it. This is true both in her professional and personal life.

There is a back story about her father’s restaurant that doesn’t end and, as a reader, I felt like I was left dangling. While I understand this is part of a series, I would have liked a little more progression or at least a sense that the plot line hadn’t been suddenly dropped.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

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