As an English teacher I’m a sucker for Shakespeare, so naturally my interest was piqued when I saw this title. I was intrigued initially as the book wasn’t what I was expecting at all, but once I got into the plot I was hooked. A slightly tenuous link to Shakespeare, but an enjoyable yarn nevertheless!

This is an entertaining mystery, a well plotted story featuring interesting characters and a solid plot.
I liked the style of writing and the descriptions of Madison.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A Sudden Interest in Shakespeare is an oddly compelling PI mystery by Paul Breen. Released 6th July 2023, it's 277 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.The first book featuring musician/part time PI Seamus O'Neill is also available on KU.

This is a quirky, but choppily written modern PI procedural with multiple plotlines and an interesting cast of characters. There's a missing persons case, a box full of unexplained cash, fake passports, and assorted other skullduggery. The returning characters get some development in this volume, but none of them are truly appealing or empathetic. MC Seamus appears to be floating through life, doing as little as possible to get by and not making much progress. He is, however, undeniably clever, and despite the banal and ridiculous plans he comes up with, manages to figure it all out in the end.

It's not clear whether this is a very dryly humorous caper, a modern noir, a caper mystery, or a combination. It is well constructed, and although it would undoubtedly have benefited from a more thorough editing process, it is engaging and readable.

Three and a half stars. R-rated language and situations. Although it's the second book in the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A Sudden Interest in Shakespeare by Paul Breen had a lot of potential, but didn’t hit the spot for me. Upon checking, I see plenty of four and five star reviews but quite frankly, it put me to sleep, several times. Maybe it was the editing or lack of. The characters were entertaining enough, especially the lead, Seamus O’Neill, as sometime rock musician and sluff-about-town, but really good at this job. He had a background and he knew plenty of people, but he couldn’t quite get where he needed to be. Coincidentally, both of their current jobs, kind of overlapped. One was a missing person, the other was a sister who was worried that her brother was acting strangely. Seamus used the man’s key-card to enter his place of employment and took a shower while he was there. He hadn’t had one in a few days and his was broken. All very Columbo.

The mysteries were solved. Seamus did that. His boss, Ryder, an ex-cop, lent the respectability to the enterprise but was not as clever as Seamus. There were really no supporting characters except for some of Seamus’ musician buddies, just clients. I couldn’t tell of it was an edgy, awkward cozy or noir or what. I was not enthralled.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of A Sudden Interest in Shakespeare by Dutch Hollow Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #DutchHollowPress #PaulBreen #ASuddenInterestInShakespeare

I wanted to like this more than I did. As others did, I was drawn in by the title; at best Shakespeare is peripheral to the story. Someone has secrets, someone goes missing, someone has the hots for someone else, there are many very predictable characters and behaviors. Sadly, I really didn't end up liking any of them, and only finished the book to see if my guess about whodunit was correct.
I hope the author can get some good editing guidance, and tries again.

Having been drawn in by the wonderful title, I was hoping to see The Bard feature as a central part of the story. Without wanting to give too much away, a detective agency are looking for a missing businessman. The link to Shakespeare is spelled out soon enough but it’s really not a big deal and comes across almost as an aside. Aside from trying to solve the mystery of the missing businessman though, there’s an awful lot of time spent talking about music, instruments, relationships, all manner of things. That’s all well and good but I didn’t feel as if the mystery, or Shakespeare, were at the heart of this novel and I very much wanted them to be.

The title caught my eye, and I was intrigued by the Shakespeare connection. But this just wasn’t for me. All the characters sound the same, most of the book is info dumps, including the dialogue, and too many sentences start with “Yet”.

I was so close to giving up at the end of each chapter and leaving this book unfinished. But I don’t like to leave things, and I still wanted to find out what happened, so I’m glad I pushed through.

Unlikable and unrelatable characters, abrupt writing style, and inconsistent as storytelling all combine for an unenjoyable, miserable read.