If, from a bibliophilic perspective, the unthinkable should happen, and I was only able to follow 10 cozy series, this would definitely be one of the keepers. There's just something wonderfully competent and enjoyable about Kendel Lynn's writing; the characters she's created feel like the kind of people I grew up with and the community resembles the kind I grew up in.

Having said that, this one didn't work quite as well as the rest. It was still better than your average cozy, but she didn't hit it out of the ballpark. The plot felt scattered, but as I write this I wonder if that wasn't part of the point. Elliott feels scattered and disconnected to her own life and job in this book, wondering what happened to her focus; the plot definitely mirrored her inner turmoil, so perhaps that was the point. If so, I still maintain the book wasn't all it could be if I didn't feel emotionally invested enough to immediately see the connection.

I'm also a little bummed at the lack of romantic spark in this one. She's got all the elements at hand, and she spent the last three books setting it up, but either she's got us in a holding pattern, or she's jumped past all the good stuff. I hope it's the former; I'd definitely like Ransom to play a more active role next time around.

For all the grumbling though, I'd still recommend this series in a New York minute. It's solidly plotted, with an intelligent female lead who is surrounded by strong intelligent women and interesting (and intelligent) men. Very few stereotypes, no caricatures. Moderate humor. I'm a solid fan. ( )

This is the fourth book in the Elliott Lisbon series as well as two novellas, but the first one I read (or listened to in this case). I had not difficulty following the story of Elli and her friends, but will go back and read the others, as I really enjoyed this book. Elliott is working on her PI license and only needs 4000 more hours of investigative work. She fits in the hours while working as charity director for the Ballantyne Foundation. Their spring fundraiser, The Irish Fling, is sponsoring a corned beef and cabbage cook-off. While looking for her favourite corned beef entry, she stumbles across Chef Carmichael standing over his sister-in-law, Lola with a bloody knife. Lola is also a friend of Elliott and is at the event on her invitation. Chef confesses to the murder and does not want investigation. has her investigating the murder of a local trailer park owner. Elliot knows Chef is not a killer so starts to investigate the crime as well as find the reason why Chef is taking the blame. This plunges Elliot into the chaos of the Carmichael family's affairs as well as learning about the trailer park Lola owns, with all its various renters and issues. Not only is she investigating the crime (without a lot of support from the police), but Lola has left her two pugs to Elliott's boss who is out of town, so she has to keep them until their return. Things are not going well at work either with a lot of animosity between directors. When Lola's daughter, Lucy arrives in town, Elliott tries to mend fences with her old friend who is a PI in Texas. There are several suspects and clues sprinkled throughout the story. Elliott busy investigating all the guest chefs and trailer park renters.This is a relatively short story that moves quickly and I enjoyed meeting the various residents of Sea Pine Island, South Carolina and look forward to finding out more about them as I go back and read the rest of this series. ( )