Book Review: Booked 4 Murder by JC Eaton

Sophie Phee Kimball is not a cop. She s a divorced, middle-aged mom who works as an account clerk for the police department in a small city in Minnesota. But her retired mother, Harriet Plunkett, is convinced Phee is the only one who can solve the mystery of a cursed book. According to Harriet, four members of her book club have already succumbed to the deadly curse. Harriet insists Phee catch the next plane to her retirement community in Sun City West, Arizona, to investigate.

Is her mother just bored and lonely? She does have a new pet a long-haired chiweenie (half Chihuahua, half Dachshund) for company and a host of pals (although that number is admittedly dwindling). Phee is certain that their book club selection isn't cursed, but is somebody really knocking off the ladies? As Phee starts to uncover dark secrets hidden in plain sight under the blazing Arizona sun, she'll need to read between the lines before it's someone else's final chapter.... 

My Review:
Four members of a retirement community have recently died in unexpected ways and the common thread is that all four were in the same bookclub and had just finished the latest book given to the club. Sophie, despite having no detective skills at all, is railroaded into coming to investigate the crimes and solve the mystery before her mother manages to drive her mad about it. It is after she starts asking questions that Sophie suspects that the women may indeed have been murdered but who would want to do it and why?

I'm not really a cozy mystery kind of person so it is rare for me to read the genre. However over the last couple of years I've picked up the odd one like this which has a great cover with cute dog and a blurb that sounds kind of interesting. Each February I take part in a dog reading challenge so that is my excuse to dust off books like this one and have a total change of pace from my usual genres. I was actually surprised to quite like this one.

Sophie is a good character because she is totally normal with no super skills and a total amateur when it comes to investigating crimes. She starts talking to dogwalkers in the park and assorted people around the area who knew the victims to try and piece together why each of the women died. Was the bee sting at the swimming pool as innocent as it seemed? Was one woman poisoned in hospital by food she was allergic to? Did somebody try to kill another woman with carbon monoxide? Is the book club the common link or are all of these incidents seperate? Sophie and her mother are determined to find out.

Sophie's mother was a bit eccentric and as subtle as a steamroller, which made her an interesting character to read about. She believes that it is the book itself, an unknown book published by a mystery author, that is cursing the people but Sophie thinks that is unlikely and instead focuses on the relatives and friends of each victim. The other women at the book club are just as weird and wonderful as her mother and they can be quite funny at times through the book. There are quite a few interesting side characters that Sophie meets during her investigation, including the dangerous bingo players, the failed romeo Hank and the women from the posh retirement place! 

I also liked Sophie's friend and work colleague Nate, whose real detective nose is intrigued by what Sophie's mother thinks about the book curse, and he encourages Sophie to go and investigate. He is happy to get regular updates by phone and tries to help her by providing information about her suspects, gained by his shady contact Rolo. I would like to see a bit more of both of them. I would also have liked to see a bit more of the dog Streetman but he is very much in the background of the story. I also enjoyed the big Agatha Christie type reveal at the public meeting where Sophie is ready to reveal what really happened-that was a funny scene at times. I also liked the fact that there was no romance in the book and it focused purely on the mystery. I believe that romance for Sophie does come in coming books, for those who like that.

The book has moments of nice humour to enjoy and I liked the way Sophie's investigation is put together as she seperates possible murders from accidents. I very much enjoyed the eccentric characters throughout the book and some of the silly things that Sophie gets roped into by her mother. The actual plot was entertaining and I liked the way that Sophie tried to discover the truth about each death. It is not my usual genre but I think I would like to read more about this community, which Sophie moves to live in in the next book. I'll probably read on with the series when time allows.

Read February 2019
3 stars.