Crime for the Books
Lyla Moody and the Jane Doe book club are hosting a Halloween party at Magnolia Manor, tailored after Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced, but when the lights come on after the staged murder, a real victim lies dead with a gunshot wound in her chest. The victim was an estranged relative of Elaine Morgan, operator of the B&B, who’d earlier been seen arguing with her about the fate of the property. Suspicion immediately falls on Elaine, and she’s arrested by Officer Rosa Landry.
The Jane Doe’s believe Elaine is innocent, and when they get the chance to team up with police officer Rosa who is a member of the club, they jump on it. But then, the club discovers that two more murders have been brazenly predicted online and in the Sweet Mountain Gazette and that one of the intended victims is Rosa.
Lyla thinks she knows who the killer is, but the only way to find out is by laying a trap using Rosa as bait. But, like an Agatha Christie mystery, the truth is never what it seems. Lyla and her trusty Jane Doe book club will have to sleuth out the killer before Rosa meets her final chapter.
The Details
Series: A Jane Doe Book Club Mystery – Book #3
Author: Kate Young
Genre/Category: Cozy – B&B/Book Club
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ISBN: 163910108X
Page Count: 336
Rating: 
The Review
The Jane Doe book club finds itself in a mess when a member of their club, Elaine, has a murder take place at her place of business, and another member, Rosa, seems to lose her mind. The victim is a distant relative of Elaine’s, and Rosa is the police officer in charge of the investigation; things get crazy when the evidence points to Elaine as the killer, and Rosa is out to prove it.
Characters in this series are fully developed with all the characteristics you would expect from a series that has only three books under its mantel. Lyla, Rosa, and all the others in The Jane Doe book club are wonderful, with each member contributing to the overall feeling of friendship and family. Crime for the Books adds more background to the setting and the characters and makes readers want to go back and read the other books in the series again.
The victim isn’t known by many of the Jane Doe club, and she is not well-liked by those who know her. She causes massive trouble for Elaine and even argued with her just before she was killed. Evidence is sprinkled throughout the book and is easy to find. However, the killer is difficult to find, and the reason for this may cause some disgruntlement for some readers. I had issues with some of the twists in this story. There were just a few too many, and some of the evidence was iffy at best. I did not like the way Rosa was portrayed. She was a strong character in the past two books, but seemed weak and useless in this one. I felt the relationship issues between Lyla and Brad were completely wrong on every level. Lyla was too cold and unfeeling, and Brad was too easily persuaded to give up.
Crime for the Books, although a generally good book, this was not one of my favorites. I did not enjoy it as much as I expected to. The Jane Doe book club is still the best part of this series, and hopefully, Rosa will be back to her lovable hard police officer self in the next one. I recommend readers start at the beginning of this series in order to understand who the players are and how their personalities and quarks play in the overall scheme.
The Author
Kate Young writes southern mystery novels. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Guppy Chapter. Kate lives in a small town in Georgia with her husband, three kids, and Shih Tzu. When she is not writing her own books, she’s reading or cooking.
Readers will want to start the “A Jane Doe Book Club Mystery” series from the beginning with book one, On Borrowed Crime, or enjoy another series from Kate, “A Marygene Brown Mystery,” and the third book, Southern Sass and a Battered Bride.
Represented by: Blue Ridge Literary Agency
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