A cozy mystery about a Gladia who lives with her grandmother who says Gladia is destined to be a matchmaker. She also seems destine to be a slueth, but not without causing havoc along the way. A fun, simple read. Goodreads: Three months has been Gladie Burger?s limit when it comes to staying in one place. That?s why Gladie is more than a little skeptical when her Grandma Zelda ¥ who is more than a little psychic Â¥ recruits her into the family?s matchmaking business in the quaint small town of Cannes, California. What?s more, Gladie is also highly unqualified, having a terrible track record with romance. Still, Zelda is convinced that her granddaughter has her clairvoyant ?gift.? But when the going gets tough, Gladie wonders if this gift has a return policy.When Zelda?s neighbor drops dead in his kitchen, Gladie is swept into his bizarre family?s drama. Despite warnings from the (distractingly gorgeous) chief of police to steer clear of his investigation, Gladie is out to prove that her neighbor?s death was murder. It?s not too long before she?s in way over her head Â¥ with the hunky police chief, a dysfunctional family full of possible killers, and yet another mysterious and handsome man, whose attentions she?s unable to ignore. Gladie is clearly being pursued Â¥ either by true love or by a murderer. Who will catch her first?

Really enjoyed this book--great characters and lots of humor! ( )

Matchmaker, matchmaker, bring me a dream... But maybe leave out the murder.

Gladie Burger has a very special calling. You could call it the family business, but all Burger women have the gift of matchmaking. Though Gladie isn't so sure she's inherited her Grandma Zelda's skills when it comes to helping people fall in love. An Affair to Dismember has Elise Sax's usual humor and wit that comes off the page in waves thanks to her charming and larger-than-life characters. Sax has a way of blending humor, mystery, and murder that makes reading one of her books so much fun. Her stories are playful and don't take themselves too seriously which is perfect for reading for the sake of enjoyment, relaxing, and would go great with a cup of tea.

An Affair to Dismember has a variety of characters that have larger-than-life personalities that give eccentricity and exuberance to the story. Sax offers a variety of characters such as Grandma Zelda and Bridget, who are two women that you never know what to expect out of their mouths. Their lines were often offbeat and humorous which showed their personalities to a T. Grandma Zelda was the sort that was a guide for Gladie to encourage and steer her onto her path while also be a source of slight embarrassment with comments about her love life. Though as we got to know these exuberant and delightful women, we found the police chief to possess a great deal of cockiness and ego. His dialogue often served his character well with the amount of ego and attitude that went into each word. His character gave Gladie a sense of frustration as she tried to navigate this path of destiny while also investigating a murder. Dialogue is Sax's best weapon in her stories with it serving the characters well and allowing you insight into their personalities by the way they talk such as Uncle Henry and his 1950s reminiscent way of speaking.

Sax always offers a delightful array of characters in her books and this one is no different. They're well-written and are the sort that you would want to spend the day talking to. The author has a knack for dialogue that fits the characters and sets them apart easily from each other. While Gladie deals with murder and matchmaking, she's facing her own crisis of destiny in trying to determine if the family business is even for her. Her first match to make is with the neighbor that so happens to be a perfect match for herself and creates an inner conflict for her as she initially tries to steer herself away from any feelings. Every great mystery series is filled with romantic tension and a love interest that is charming. This story has both of those things with her neighbor being a suspect, a conflicted first match, and her love interest.

The pacing was fantastic as you never knew what was going to happen and nothing ever happened just as you'd guess. The story revolves around matchmaking and Grandma Zelda trying to help get Gladie onto the path of her destiny by pointing out to her at one point that she has matchmaking but maybe even something else, referring to what she considers to be an extra knowing. All in all, we greatly enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys lighthearted, humorous, and charming mysteries.

2.5 stars

I read this for the Cozy Mystery square for Halloween Bingo

Something was definitely fishy about Randy Terns’s death, and at least one of his children thought he deserved to be murdered.

Cozy mystery isn't a genre I usually spend a lot of time in but I've dabbled and the ones I've dabbled in, tend to have a "cozy" calm, mysterious but relaxing feel to them, not so here.

The only time the heroine isn't on the go or jumping here and there, is when she is asleep, which doesn't last long. She's in town to take over her grandmother's matchmaking business but doesn't quite have the touch but doesn't matter since she only focuses on that for about 3% of the story. One of her neighbors was found dead in the kitchen and she thinks (?? I guess but she never seems totally sure even though she is running around trying to solve the "murder") he was murdered.

What follows is a story that felt incredibly manic and held together with rubber bands and flimsy plot threads. Why does such a small town, I don't think they even have a 20 person police force (they don't have their own 911 call center) have a multi-million dollar new station? This is the first in the series but like my complaints about Angelfalls, you still have to craft story that provides depth in regards to characters and plot in book one.

There is a love triangle but with one guy that barely is a pencil sketch and the heroine only seems to like because he is hot and the other that seems like the clear future winner. I'm not quite sure what the heroine saw in the pencil sketch (besides good looks) and I'm not sure what either guy saw in the heroine. The murder mystery was convoluted as all get out and had a reveal dump at the end.

This was so manic and jumbled I felt like I was lost in a bouncy castle. I don't think I'll be continuing on in the series, especially since I am not a fan of love triangles, they always seem to be dragged out way to long.

Bonus point for having Rottweilers in the story but point deduction for having them be growling frightening beasts.
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The style of writing is not for me. I kept reading for a challenge … as there were several tea drinking scense and the writer seemed to be channeling Lewis Carroll’s writing style which I thought was appropriate for this particular challenge titled The Madhatter’s Tea Party.. ( )