Guidebook to Murder by Lynn Cahoon
My Rating: ★★
After settling down in South Cove, Jill Gardner is spending her days running her shop and enjoying the town she fell in love with enough to restart her life in. Things are going well until Miss Emily passes away. In her heart, Jill immediately knows it was murder because Emily’s derelict house was sitting on an extremely profitable piece of land. When it turns out Emily left everything to her name to Jill, poor Jill finds herself trying to solve a murder before she becomes the next victim.
I really wanted to love this book. Unfortunately for me, I did not like Jill, so I had a hard time getting into the story. I found her to be extremely dull and had a hard time believing that she was ever a lawyer. The longer I read the book, the more I found it hard believe she was supposed to be living the fast life with a big career let alone be a former lawyer. Even her own aunt was light years ahead of her. I also didn’t care for the romance because Jill kept focusing on how her beau was a married man. The pair could’ve been on fire, but Jill was the only one who failed to notice that the man is clearly divorced and very single.
That said, I did enjoy the supporting characters, particularly Aunt Jackie. I loved Jackie from the moment she was introduced and found myself wishing I was following her instead of Jill. She’s such a vibrant and fun character who seems to have gotten all the brains. I also loved Amy, so I was sad when she went missing early in the story. Emily was also a wonderful character that we got to know well through everyone’s memories as well as the mementos she left behind. I think that, at the core, there’s a great cast of characters here.
The mystery itself was okay. I think that there was a little too much going on between the house repairs, the history of the property, the mysterious treasure, various characters pressuring Jill to sell the house, Amy’s disappearance, Emily’s late son’s secret kid and grandchild… The list goes on. I think that some of these things could’ve been saved for future books because it felt like we just kept getting hit with something new while Jill was bumbling around trying to investigate.
I do think that, overall, it’s a cute story with several funny moments. I just had a hard time getting into it because Jill is such a flat character. The mystery itself was a little overwhelming at times, but I think the author was onto something and that her mysteries will likely be tighter as the series continues. I’m not sure if I’ll read the second book since I don’t like Jill, but I loved the supporting characters, so we’ll see.
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