A review by emmkayt
The Night Bell by Inger Ash Wolfe

2.0

This is the fourth in a crime fiction series about Hazel Micallef, a police detective in her sixties in a fictional southern Ontario town, Port Dundas. I haven’t read others in the series, so found the wide cast of co-workers and some references confusing. A high point for me was the setting, which I enjoyed a lot. The story is very involved, featuring bones that turn up in a new housing development, linked to an institutional children’s home from decades ago. Also a gaggle of subplots, and shifting timelines back to when Hazel was a teen in the town in the 50s (that was a bit Nancy Drew, I liked that). It was too much, and a lot of the policing steps, pacing, and reactions/responses to events felt ‘off’ and unrealistic. I might read another in the series but I wouldn’t seek it out.