Guidebook to Murder by Lynn Cahoon: Book Review

 

Blurb: In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store–Coffee, Books, and More–open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder?

When Jill’s elderly friend, Miss Emily, calls in a fit of pique, she already knows the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily’s gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill–along with all of her problems. . .and her enemies. Convinced her friend was murdered, Jill is finding the list of suspects longer than the list of repairs needed on the house. But Jill is determined to uncover the culprit–especially if it gets her closer to South Cove’s finest, Detective Greg King. Problem is, the killer knows she’s on the case–and is determined to close the book on Jill permanently.

Stars: 2.5

This is the story of Jill Gardner, a bookstore owner in a small town who gets embroiled in a murder mystery that slowly but surely reveals secrets in her town. It’s a small town story with a small town cover that accurately reflects the tale, and in all honesty was the reason I picked it up. I was in a weird mood, go figure.

Place is important in this book — the author captures the small town feel extremely well. Everyone is friends or everyone knows (of) everyone else. It helps too that some of the story involves refurbishing a house that brings in a cast of characters of the town that’s actually goes a long way to setting the scene of the story.

So, the story: Jill’s friend Emily is an old woman who owns a rather big house, and she’s in battle with City Hall  to save her house from being demolished, when she passes. Soon enough it comes to light that she’s been murdered and that she’s actually left her very vast estate and prime real estate all to Jill, her only friend in the town. Jill decides to find her killer, much to the consternation of the Greg, the cop who is investigating the case and her possible love interest in the story.

What I enjoyed about the story was the place and the sense of a small town that the author managed to inject into the story – Jill lives and works in a town where everyone knows her like everyone knows the Mayor. I rather imagine somewhere in that town someone doesn’t bother locking their doors anymore, it’s that sort of place. But, that’s not all.

Slowly but surely, the author peels back layers of the town, revealing Emily’s secrets and town secrets as well …and I would have thoroughly enjoyed the tale if the pacing had been a little more tighter.

When I read a mystery, I need some tension, something to make me curse when my train arrives at my stop and I have to get out and stop reading. But, here it felt like everything was moving too slowly, that there was no tension to be had and that Jill had too many other distractions to keep her from being focused entirely on the case, including one to do with Amy, her best friend.

I began to wonder if the author gave Amy an unnecessary sub-plot to get her out of the way while Jill’s aunt took centre stage a little in the story. It’s the first book in a series, so I’m guessing the author wanted to set up the importance of these women in Jill’s life, but I think it detracted from the story in the end. It would have been better, I think to focus on one relationship in this book and introduce Jill’s aunt in the next. There’s no reason to rush to introduce characters in a series in the first book. Let every character have a moment to shine I think, especially when a cast of characters has such potential.

I think I could have enjoyed this more than I did – I certainly wanted to – but the pacing, especially, threw me off.