This is the second book in the Detective Hannah McCabe Mystery series. I have not read the first book. It is also the second detective mystery I have read this week. This could easily become a habit. The thing that is really different is that this mystery takes place in the future. For me the beginning of the book starts a little slow and then picks up the pace. Detective McCabe and her partner Mike Baxter must solve the murder of Kevin Novak. He is a funeral director. Was it murder or suicide? Was it a coincidence he was killed in his own funeral home? There are many people in this story who have secrets. We have some very interesting characters like a medium named Luanne. Maybe she knows who murdered Kevin Novak. There are several smaller story lines that are mixed in with this story to make it more interesting. I’m not very good at figuring out mysteries and this one was no different. With all the clues I didn’t figure it out. I enjoy being kept in suspense until the end. I definitely need to check out other books by this author.
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own. ( )

Police procedural set in the Albany, NY of a near future, alternate universe. If the reader doesn't catch the alternate universe tag, there are "inconsistencies"; Elvis retired in 2000, technology is slightly different, and there are several other small differences. ( )

We’re in the future – 2020 to be exact. The first line read: “After the storm passed, in the chilly hour before dawn, the last of the “space zombies” found their way back to their nest in the derelict house.” Albany PD vice cops went into the home via battering ram. They found a girl who was barely alive; it looked like an OD. And they found what they were looking for … “an impressive array of drugs and paraphernalia.” Chapter 2 switches to an alternate story and the main story line.

Funeral Director, Kevin Novak, is a distinguished member of the community. However, he seems to feel more connected to the corpses at the funeral home than to his wife. It’s during a blizzard when everything is shut down; he goes back to the funeral home to keep the deceased company. He is found dead in the basement the next morning, shot through the chest with his own bow and arrow. The doors were unlocked indicating perhaps that he knew the killer. Detective Hannah McCabe and her partner Mike Baxter are called in to investigate.

This reminds me of the In Death series as the futuristic components are there but not ‘in your face’. However, that’s where the similarity ends. I assume the ‘space zombies’ was possibly a nickname given to the druggies. I didn’t see any reason to believe they were literal. There are other subplots to the story that I didn’t feel were fully explained in a timely manner. The story also pulled in news about a third-party presidential candidate, Howard Miller, who was seeking to abolish the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Now unless there are two Martin Luther King, Jr’s, with a holiday, there is a mistake in the novel which suggested he died a decade ago. If the novel is set in 2020, this is wholly incorrect. I loved the winter storm as the background; the name of the storm was Jezebel. This is the 2nd in the Detective Hannah McCabe series. The mystery was complete so was easily read as a standalone. The first in the series was The Red Queen Dies. I rated What the Fly Saw at 3 out of 5. ( )

I don’t usually read books that are futuristic (this was only by five years). What The Fly Saw by Frankie Y. Bailey is the first one that I have read that is set in an alternate world. I felt uncomfortable about the futuristic part. Oddly enough, it was not that I couldn’t imagine future inventions and I was able to figure out what the most prominent one would be like, the ORB. But the main character’s father used phrases that I think were out of date twenty years ago. Somehow it was jarring to me for her father to talk that way.

Basically, I just pretended that I was reading a regular detective mystery so that I could get past the futuristic and alternate word elements. I think this book would have a wider audience without them.

However, my main problem is the pacing of the story. The beginning was much too slow for my liking, I wanted to quit. I kept at and thankfully the pace picked up towards the last third of the book. I would enjoyed the book more if the author had picked up the pace in the beginning.
The detective, Hannah McCabe, her father and the other people that she worked with did not make me want to know more about them. I think that is disastrous when it comes to a mystery series. It encourages me to not read anymore.

On a positive note, I liked reading about the victim, his family and the murder suspects much more. I was sad when the 1st victim died. I thought he was a very intriguing character. I won’t say what it was here but I also thought that the second murder weapon was very trite. Also before the second murder weapon was disclosed, the pacing slumped again. That made me a bit angry. I had already guessed the murder weapon and was hoping that I was wrong and then the book slows down.

So in summary the only redeeming part of the book was the victim and the secondary characters.

When it comes to pacing, if you love Jane Austen novels then you should be fine but pacing that slow is poison to me. Personally, I don’t have the patience for slow paced books but if you do, you may want to read this book just for the interesting victim and side characters.

I received an Advance Copy of What the Fly Saw by Frankie Y. Bailey book in exchange for a fair review from the Partners in Crime but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in my review. ( )