Off the Air: A Mystery

by Christina Estes

Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona, splitting her time between covering general assignments - anything from a monsoon storm to a newborn giraffe at the zoo - and special projects. Stories that take more time to research and produce. Stories that Jolene wants to tell.

When word gets out about a death at a radio station, Jolene and other journalists swarm the scene, intent on reporting the facts first. The body is soon identified as Larry Lemmon, a controversial talk show host, who died under suspicious circumstances. Jolene conducted his final interview, giving her and her station an advantage. But not for long.

As the story heats up, so does the competition. Jolene is determined to solve this murder. It’s an investigation that could make or break her career - if it doesn't break her first.

• ISBN10: 1250863856
• ISBN13: 9781250863850
• Publish Date: 15 April 2024 (first published 26 March 2024)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Minotaur Books,US
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250863850

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Off the Air is a standalone mystery (first volume in a series?) featuring a local reporter in the main role by real-life reporter Christina Estes. Released 26th March 2024 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. 

The longstanding advice to authors to "write what you know" is certainly applied here. The author is an Emmy award-winning journalist in real life, and the depth of background and verisimilitude are impressive. At some points, there might be a bit too much nuts-and-bolts description of getting the news to viewers, but overall it's interesting and engaging (mostly). There's a *lot* of backstabbing, competition, and elbow jabbing taking place between competing reporters for exclusives and sources which is exhausting to read (and undoubtedly to live as a day job also). 

Most of the main character's colleagues are whiny, superficial, catty, and unpleasant. She's not a whole lot better in some ways, and her main police background source was an unpleasant rude boor (and should be punched in the face). The constant mistakes and frustrating coincidences were distracting and largely unnecessary.

The length is surprising for a modern mystery, and immersion isn't overall even throughout. The writing and dialogue are very good, the author can definitely write. Her descriptive prose is spare and smooth; her characterizations are well rounded and believable, and the dialogue is rapid fire and not clunky. 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 30 minutes and is capably narrated by Marcella Black. She does a good job of delineating the large cast of characters which span a range of ages, both male and female.

Three and a half stars. Worth a look for fans of journo-mysteries. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[chymerra]

When I started reading Off the Air, I realized I hadn’t reviewed many books where the main character is a reporter (newspaper or TV). So, I was very interested in what went on behind the cameras and how a reporter worked a story. Off the Air did explore this (alongside Jolene investigating Larry’s murder).

Off the Air’s main storyline centers on Jolene and her investigation into Larry Lemmon’s murder. Jolene’s investigation was well-written and gave good insight into how cutthroat reporting can be. But it felt a little flat when the focus was off the newsroom and onto Jolene’s personal life. It also didn’t help that Jolene was just as ruthless in her personal life as in her professional life.

I had mixed feelings about Jolene. Professionally, she was everything I thought a news reporter should be: focused and three steps ahead of her competition. But personally, that ruthlessness didn’t do her any favors. Everything I liked about her while she was working turned me off when the author switched to her personal life.

The mystery angle of Off the Air did keep me guessing. The victim was a shock jock who made enemies every time he opened his mouth. So, there were a lot of suspects and motives. I was shocked at not only who the murderer was but why that person chose to murder the victim. In a way, I did sympathize with that person, but to resort to murder. Nope. Of course, once Jolene revealed the motive behind Larry’s murder, there was an additional story to report.

The end of Off the Air was interesting. The author wrapped up the main storyline (Larry’s murder) but left other secondary storylines unresolved. It will be interesting to see how relationships change (for better or worse) throughout this series.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Christina Estes for allowing me to read and review Off the Air. All opinions stated in this review are mine.