Author: Nikki Knight
Genre: Mystery/Politics
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781643859453
Crooked Lane Books
304 Pages
$26.99; $13.99 Amazon
February 8, 2022
⭐
In a fit of anger, radio DJ Jaye Jordan blows a snowman's head off with a Revolutionary War-style musket. But the corpse that stumbles out is all too human. Jaye thought life would be quieter when she left New York City and bought a tiny Vermont radio station. But now, Edwin Anger -- the ranting and raving radio talk show host who Jaye recently fired -- lies dead in the snow. And the Edwin Anger fans who protested his dismissal are sure she killed him.
To clear her name, Jaye must find the real killer, as if she doesn't have her hands full running the radio station. DJing her all-request love song show, and shuffling tween daughter Ryan to and from school. It doesn't make matters easier that the governor -- Jaye's old crush -- arrived on the scene before the musket smoke cleared. Fortunately, Jaye has allies. If you count the flatulent moose that lives in the transmitter shack, and Neptune, the giant gray cat that lives at the station.
If Jaye can turn the tables on the devious killer, she and the governor may get to make some sweet, sweet music together. But if she can't, she'll be off the air...permanently.
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Jaye Jordan moved to Vermont so that her daughter could live closer to her father David who lives in New Hampshire. She's bought a radio station, and has changed programming to eliminate Edwin Anger and now plays late-night requested love songs. Followers of Edwin aren't happy, and have taken to protesting outside the station (which is also her home). So Jaye decides to teach them a lesson, taking one man's musket and blowing the head off a snowman in the town square. (Never mind that there are people there).
When the body of Edwin is discovered inside the snowman, the sheriff wants to know who killed him. He doesn't believe Jaye had anything to do with it, so she's not worried. But now she's taken with the state governor, who's just as taken with her. To watch her romance heat up, she needs to find out who's a stone-cold killer...
Oh, my, my, my. We have yet another book of thinly-veiled personal politics masquerading as a cozy mystery. This it does not do. In fact, with all the Republican-bashing throughout the book, I wonder how the far-left leaning author could even sit up straight while writing. This book is so filled with hate speech against the right that I found it ludicrous that the protagonist would even say that she 'didn't want hate speech on her program.' Seriously?
It's not even a cozy mystery. Yes, there is a dead body, but the police investigate everything -- and we all know in a cozy that the protagonist is right there with them, picking up clues along the way. This book is: 1) a political rant; 2) a romance; and 3) with a murder thrown in so it can be labeled a cozy. Which it is not, with all the foul language.
I read to escape everyday life, everyday politics. And yes, I would have felt the same if this were a right-leaning book. Politics have no place in a cozy mystery, especially not the author's own views. Also, the writing was strange, to say the least. It was as if we were reading the protagonist's thoughts as she went through day-to-day life, It might have been alright if I could even like the protagonist. But I could not. I couldn't even finish the book. Unfortunately, I will not be reading any more of this author's books.
I was given an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Nikki Knight's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/nikki-knight/
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