Review: Guidebook to Murder (A Tourist Trap Mystery) by Lynn Cahoon

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
eKensington

Release Date:
April 2014




In the quiet coastal town of South Cove in California, Jill Sanders sets up her shop “Coffee, Books, and More”. Jill loves to read and wants nothing more than to make the shop a success. Things turn out to be not so quiet when she gets a desperate phone call from her elderly friend Miss Emily. It seems the town council is issuing her ultimatums to get her old house in shape or else. Miss Emily seeks out Jill’s assistance, but when Jill arrives, she finds her friend dead. The police are sure it was of natural causes, but Jill isn’t buying it. The autopsy supports Jill’s belief.

When Miss Emily’s will is read and Jill inherits everything, the police turn their sights on her. She has become their prime suspect, but Jill has a list of her own. The list of people who wanted Miss Emily dead is growing every minute. When Jill’s best friend, Amy, goes missing, she turns to the handsome detective on Miss Emily’s case, Greg King, for help.

Jill fears for Amy's safety. She absolutely cannot lose someone else she’s close to, plus her own life hangs in the balance when threats begin coming fast and furious to her doorstep. As Jill tries to satisfy the council’s demands for repairs to the house, she meets obstacle upon obstacle.

She finds herself dealing with Miss Emily’s disinherited relatives, art thieves and building developers. Each one has dollar signs in their eyes and Jill wonders if one of them could also be a killer.

I love starting on the ground floor of a cozy mystery series. It’s great fun to meet new characters and visit new places. This story is no exception. I thought the two main characters Jill and Greg were wonderfully portrayed. They are strong characters and the supporting cast were equally as strong.

My one problem was that there was a misunderstanding between the main characters that could have been solved on page one with a simple question. That was bothersome but didn’t ruin the story for me. Jill did seem to take a few unnecessary risks, but that’s the nature of a cozy mystery. The main character usually does do things that make the reader scream “NO!”, but it’s all part of the excitement and adventure of a mystery story.

I didn’t figure out the real culprit until Jill did, so that’s good. The story took a few twists and turns that I didn’t see coming and that makes it even better to read. I will definitely be checking out the next one which is due out in July.




For reading challenges:
2014 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
2014 ARC Reading Challenge
2014 E-Book Reading Challenge
2014 NetGalley Reading Challenge

FTC Disclosure: NetGalley provided me with a copy of this book to review. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.