All Body Bags and No Knickers by Shawe Ruckus is ultimately about an old crime that catches up to Chance Yang and his new wife Catherine as they take a very long honeymoon in China.
This is the third book in the series, and I am wondering if I had the background from the earlier books if some of the story would have made more sense. The book opens in England where there are mostly just various conversations happening at Chance’s bar. Most of the characters do not appear to have to work except for Catherine’s best friend, the nurse. And although the England part took up at least the first third, didn’t seem to serve any purpose other than pointing out that Chase and Cather are about to go to China.
Once they get to China, they visit various places and meet some family. There is an uninspired thread around Chance’s parentage, and the main mystery from the China portion centers on a bullying crime/accident from middle school. This does tie into a couple of current deaths, but it is a bit of a stretch.
What I did like is that the author clearly knows some customs, legends, and idioms from China, and it was interesting to see those. As well, the food sounded delicious. I also enjoyed the relationship growing between Chance and Catherine as they continued to learn more about each other.
Unfortunately, this was just not my favorite. Thank you to the author and Librarything for the eARC. ( )

You know how you feel when you are waiting for something or traveling on a common carrier and you end up overhearing a conversation? That is how this book seemed to me. The conversations between the characters was well done and realistic but it felt out of context to me, that I was only hearing this little bit of a bigger whole. It was interesting reading about some of the customs in China. I found the descriptions of food and daily life were intriguing. I did like the way the couple, Catherine and Chance, supported each other through good and bad. But alas, I felt I was missing something the whole time. ( )

The beginning of this book is all dialogue with no explanation of the British-isms used. The newly married couple Catherine and Chance go to their hotel, they eat, they sightsee, go back to their hotel, discuss what they should do the next day. It is not until the very end that three bodies are found in a ruin that was going to be torn down. What little that is left of the book is more talk of the bodies. Then the book ends rather abruptly. Perhaps I missed it but the mystery of the dead bodies is not explained. ( )

I really couldn’t even finish this book. It took 75% of the book to be read before it even got to the mystery. When it did I felt like it got wrapped up in about 5 pages. I wish I could have liked it because from the description it could have been very good ( )

This is a character-driven story with plenty of dialogue as Catherine and Chance travel from London to Northern China, encountering various characters who are later found dead. The story focuses more on the interactions between the characters than the murder investigation.


I received a free copy and am leaving a review voluntarily.
Thank you to Hidden Gems Books, Booksprout, Booksirens, and author. ( )