Not the usual sympathetic characters

Enjoyable but… Usually by the end of Andrew Taylor’s novels I regret leaving the characters behind. Not the case with the characters in The Raven on the Water. Never bonded with the main character. Got to know him as a boy, but not very well as a man. I didn’t feel like I got to know any of the characters very well (with the possible exception of Barbara). For example we spend quite a bit of time with James’s sister - but by the end I’m left wondering why. What was her point?
I also didn’t love the narrator. There are a couple of instances in which someone is described as being difficult to understand, which the narrator over does to the point that it’s nearly impossible to understand what they are saying. If I was reading this book, I assume that I would have been able to read the words, while understanding that the speaker’s voice was garbled. Also his mimicry of some women’s voices tends to make them sound like little old ladies. Unfortunately I just listened to The Barred Window and loved the narration, so maybe just a tough act to follow