I really don't feel like I have that much to contribute to the discussion here. It was a good book, solidly entertaining. Characters are literally the same for every story. I enjoyed the story, but they were episodic: sitcoms. You could basically read the stories in reverse order (except for the first) and it would make no difference. I was a little annoyed that I could often just guess who was guilty, but it wasn't really possible to actually figure it out beforehand, as information is usually withheld until the very end. Anyway, fun read, good story, but just a read, not really a mystery.