Buried

Worth reading the Widows series first?

This book is the first in the Jack Warr series, but it picks up on a case and a lot of characters from the old Widows series, which I didn’t realise going in. I haven’t read Widows but I still really enjoyed this book!
I think the book aimed to both give the Widows cast a great conclusion, whilst also trying to introduce a new cast for the Jack Warr series. It’s pretty successful in both these endeavours, all La Plante books tend to be fairly reliable, but it isn’t her finest. Having not read Widows, I had to work quite hard to get up to speed with the vast cast of characters and I suspect I’d have got more from the book if I’d had read Widows first. Also something about Jack Warr’s character feels somewhat lacking in La Plante’s usual finesse. His character is clearly supposed to go through a lot of growth in this book; he starts off a little aimless and unambitious, and through this story he’s supposed to grow into a great detective who’s poised to carry the subsequent series as the compelling protagonist. His character in the subsequent books is great and more rounded but I think maybe La Plante stretched herself a little too much trying to deliver both the Widows conclusion and a fully fleshed out protagonist back story plus huge personal growth story all in one novel.
I suspect if you read Widows a while ago then you’ll really enjoy this book as your focus will be on them as you get introduced to this new DC Warr character, but if you’re picking it up as the first Warr book it leaves you feeling a little unsatisfied, hence the dropped star