The Case of the Half-Baked Mummies by Iain Benson

When mummified murder victims crop up around London, New Scotland Yard puts Louise Sargant and Jay Neeland on the job because of their prior experience with the strange.

With writing that can turn friends into enemies, and strangers into lovers, have Louise and Jay a chance of stopping the killer before more women die?

This is a fun book with a humorous X File vibe, starring characters that had a supporting role in the author’s James London series.

Louise and Jay are likable characters. Their partnership and interaction was realistic. Unlike Scully, Louise wears comfortable flats, and I chuckled at the references to her ‘sensible shoes’.

Although the characters were introduced in another series, I don’t think I missed anything by not reading those other books first, although their previous adventures sounded exciting and explained why they were so quick to accept weird things going on in the city.

While there is a lot of humor in this book, and the tone is light, the murder mystery is actually handled in a very serious manner and really held my interest. I liked that the case was so involved and well worked out, which I didn’t expect for a book with such a comedic name. I also liked all the scientific discussions, the explanations of police work, and the references to pop culture from the 1990’s.

There was too much focus on the romantic relationships for the characters for my liking, but I’m sure I would have been more invested if I’d followed them from the James London books.

I found this an enjoyable and satisfying read.

I award The Case of the Half-Baked Mummies…