Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:
For a gang of old college buddies, the quaint resort town of South Cove, California, is the perfect spot for a no-holds-barred bachelor party. But for Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books and More—this stag party is going to be murder . . .Review:
After a few months of living with her boyfriend Greg, Jill is still getting used to sharing such close quarters, but she’s got no hesitation about joining him for a weekend at South Cove’s most luxurious resort. While Greg and his college pals celebrate their buddy’s upcoming wedding, Jill intends to pamper herself in style. But when the groom is found floating facedown in the pool, Jill must find the killer fast, or she might not have a boyfriend to come home to any more . . .
As I've said before, I've been in the mood for mysteries lately. Mostly because (A) I'm completely caught up with all my crime/mystery dramas and (B) I take any chance to play amateur sleuth. So when I heard about Killer Party, the latest addition to a Tourist Trap Mystery series, I jumped at the chance to read it. The setting sounded idyllic, the mystery seemed like the perfect who-dun-it scenario, and the main character owned a book store (my low key dream in life). Really, what more could I ask for? As it turns out, Killer Party was an immensely addictive read that kept me guessing from start to finish.
Before diving into Killer Party, there was one aspect that I was slightly worried about: it was the 10th book in the series. Luckily, it was incredibly easy to jump into Jill Gardner's world, as this book stood alone quite well.
Jill Gardner was such a fun main character. Bookish, determined, and slightly adventurous, Jill was easy to like. I could easily relate to her introverted, I-just-want-to-read-a-book-in-peace side, because been there, done that, especially when I'm in big groups. I also enjoyed watching her sleuth her way through the Killer Party mystery. For not being an actual cop, she was pretty darn good at it, and it was always fun to see her and her boyfriend, Greg, team up to save the day. Besides Jill, I also enjoyed reading about Greg as well as Greg's friends that were at the party. The friends in particular added an interesting side to the story, especially when their pasts were brought into it.
The main mystery in this revolved around who killed Levi, Greg's best friend and groom-to-be. With Levi's death, several different suspects came into light. Each brought interesting twists and turns to the story as I tried to piece together whether or not they could be the bad guy. There was also an addition of another mystery in this that really got some extra suspense building as well. Besides the mystery, the books also revolves around the daily happenings in the book store as well as the town. I loved the book store setting. I found those parts of the story to be calm and relaxing, and it was fun to see Jill in a business owner role.
The only aspect I didn't particularly like about this book was the ending. I felt that the climax occurred rather quickly, and while the mystery was solved, I was surprisingly unsatisfied by the conclusion. Everything just pieced together too nicely in a way. I guess it just wasn't what I was expecting.
Even with that slight issue, I still found Killer Party to be a charming cozy mystery, one that I highly recommend to readers who love mystery books. I look forward to visiting Jill's past mysteries.
Grade: B
Killer Party is now out!
Source: eARC provided by blog tour host
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New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho expat. She grew up living the small town life she now loves to write about. Currently, she’s living with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap series, won the 2015 Reader’s Crown award for Mystery Fiction.
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Yes, I do love mysteries and this one sounds like an exciting one! The book cover and title make me want to get started reading RIGHT NOW.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a fun little cozy mystery! I hope you love it when you read it. :)
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