overall this was enjoyable! a cozy mystery involving a famous crime/mystery author? absolutely! the lead character knows everything there is to know about criminal activity and catching the bad guy because she writes a popular series involving a fictional detective. this is a good introduction to a fun cozy mystery series. the story is grittier and has more darker elements than what i’ve read in other cozy mystery novels, but there was still plenty of humor to be found as well as a mix of quirky characters who fall into some far-fetched situations. i didn't really connect with any of the characters which made it hard to pay attention to the story as a whole. i wish there was more tension in the scenes between Tess and Sheriff Boyd as i wasn’t 100% convinced of the romance that was brewing between them. but i did like all the bookish references since the main character is an author herself. the ending was great!! i didn't expect the killer at ALLLLLL! i wasn't sure how i was going to end up feeling about this one but wow everything really changes in the last part of the book. i was personally blown away by just how well developed the mystery ended up being and it kept me guessing right through to the last reveal ( )

Thumbs up ( )

First in a new cozy mystery series featuring Tess Harlow, a mystery-book author. Newly divorced, Tess decides to move to the remote cabin her late grandfather left her. She has kinda fond memories of a summer spent there when she was a child. Her teenaged daughter, Gertrude, is not enthused – no WiFi, no electricity, no indoor plumbing! And then there is the explosion and the “rain of fish and body parts” ….

Tess certainly has the imagination to go with being a mystery writer, even though she has difficulty actually sitting down to write, because she’s so focused on solving the crime. She’s also distracted by the hunky Sheriff Boyd, who is a dead ringer for her imaginary Detective Gonzalez she writes about.

There’s no shortage of suspects, including “Bigfoot,” to keep both Sheriff Boyd and Tess busy. Supporting characters and/or suspects include the local bookmobile librarian, the Peabody triplets and a female deputy on Boyd’s team who writes sci-fi in her spare time. This tiny community in upstate Washington near the Canadian border may have spectacular natural scenery, but there’s plenty of political infighting going on as well, pitting logging industry and “developers” against those who want to maintain the town’s “backwoods” feel.

I was as surprised as Tess to discover who the murderer was. There’s at least one more in the series and I’ll probably read it. ( )

Cute cozy mystery.
Successful mystery writer Tess Harrow takes her teen daughter, Gertie, to Tess's grandfather's cabin in the woods to spend the summer after divorce from Gertie's dad, Quentin. Naturally, Gertie isn't too excited about spending a summer without wifi, but on their arrival, there is an explosion and fish guts and human body parts start raining down on them.
Enter handsome Sheriff Boyd. Tess can't help but compare Boyd to her character, Det. Gabriel Gonzales, and constantly tells Boyd how Gonzales would have handled the situation. Tess finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and also stumbles on a smuggling ring.
Funny and smart, this is the start of a new cozy mystery series. ( )

I saw this in my local bookshop last week and almost fell over in shock - I've never seen a cozy - especially not a mass market cozy - for sale in an Australian bookstore before. It sounded promising, and I want to encourage bookstores here to embrace a wider variety of sub genres, so I picked it up.

It wasn't bad - I'll happily read the second one - but it wasn't without its problems. The MC thinks she's going to be more capable of solving the crime than the local sheriff, which is always a turn off for me. I dislike arrogance in my amateur detectives unless their names are Sherlock Holmes. But on the plus side, she's humbled a time or two and she's graceful about it. The dynamic between her and her ex-husband was a bit cliche, as was the tension between herself and the sheriff.

The plotting was ambitious; Berry made it work, but it was just this side of a stretch even for cozy mysteries.

There is a second one out now and I'll happily give it a try to see if the kinks in characterisation is worked out, but it definitely has potential. ( )