Murder in Paint & Murder in Mud, Rodney Strong

Two books from the Hitchhiker series of cosy paranormal novels based around unwilling house-husband Oliver Atkinson and his adventures with the odd and quirky. Atkinson is a stay at home husband who doesn't seem to be all that happy with that situation. Although he is trying to write a book, and there's nothing worse than housework and family commitments when it comes to sucking time away from that. Especially if you include a resident "spirit" or two in your head.

In the first in the series, MURDER IN PAINT, Atkinson finds himself "sharing" with the spirit of dead Violet Tumbleton, a woman on a mission to clear her good name, 70 years after she died. There's a stolen painting, a partnership with a con artist, and little old ladies. 

In the second novel, MURDER IN MUD, the same basic premise is explored - this time the spirit is that of Angus McMurry, who wants Atkinson to prove his great, great grandson did not murder his girlfriend. There are university students, addicts, and the real murderer for Atkinson to deal with, whilst he's trying to get his daughter's birthday cake sorted.

Needless to say, this series is going to appeal to fans of the light-hearted, purposely silly side of crime fiction, and those for whom the wit comes across as that. There's nothing in this world as hard as comic crime fiction it seems, senses of humour being such contrary, hard to predict things. Having said that, there was something here that didn't quite jell for this reader. Perhaps a little too forced, perhaps a little too thickly laid on, the wit unfortunately didn't work, making for a distinct feeling of too much oh poor me on Oliver's part. Definitely one of those series from the "your mileage will vary" / "isn't it good there's books written for all of tastes" categories.