The Bed Body by Adam D. Rice

The Bed Body is the first book in Gerard Bunting Mystery series by Adam D. Rice.

A sleepy little village where nothing interesting ever happens suddenly gains the attention of Detective Gerard Butler. Dorothy Sutton believes she knows who killed her mother. The ‘killer’ is none other than Dorothy’s sister Mauve. But the local policemen have no clues leading to the ‘killer’. Meanwhile, Mauve believes Dorothy offed their mother for monetary gains.

Bunting becomes a pain in the local policemen’s bum. He barges in on interviews and pesters them to let him tag along. A mix-up at the local funeral parlor ends up with the murder victim being cremated – before the autopsy could even begin!

I have mixed opinions about this book. At 107 pages, this was, no doubt a short read. I liked the mystery behind the murder. The gathering of clues is pretty eventful – Bunting and co. reach Germany searching for the missing link. The “denouement” is Poirot-style-ish. I really loved the twist at the end.

Having said that, I had trouble following the story (the writing, mostly) and the characters. At times, the dialogs were nonsensical and incomplete. Bunting is a weird chap – and weirder are his words. (!!) I do not know if Bunting was supposed to be an imitation of one of the greatest fictional detectives of all times – Poirot. If so, then this was a poor imitation. Poirot is, at times, annoying, but not a weirdo! Bunting always boasts of his ‘newspaper articles’ and whatnots – definitely an annoying chap!

The second half of the book is interesting. The body disappears – or rather, is cremated, thanks to the mix-up. But Bunting soon realizes there’s more to the story than just a casual mix-up at the funeral parlor. The angle of murderous daughter brought an eerie touch to the story – the daughter murdered her mother so that she could move out of the country? Doesn’t sound right, does it? Bunting too thinks so!

Overall, this was an okay read. As the story began, I had trouble following the characters and the writing but I am happy I did not DNF this book. The ending was worth it.

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