If the Shoe Kills (Tourist Trap Mystery, #3)

by Lynn Cahoon

The tourist town of South Cove, California, is a lovely place to spend the holidays. But this year, shop owner Jill Gardner discovers there's no place like home for homicide. . .

As owner of Coffee, Books, and More, Jill Gardner looks forward to the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers. But when the mayor ropes her into being liasion for a new work program, ‘tis the season to be wary. Local businesses are afraid the interns will be delinquents, punks, or worse. For Jill, nothing's worse than Ted Hendricks—the jerk who runs the program. After a few run-ins, Jill's ready to kill the guy. That, however, turns out to be unnecessary when she finds Ted in his car—dead as a doornail. Detective Greg King assumes it's a suicide. Jill thinks it's murder. And if the holidays weren't stressful enough, a spoiled blonde wants to sue the city for breaking her heel. Jill has to act fast to solve this mess—before the other shoe drops. . .

"Murder, dirty politics, pirate lore, and a hot police detective: Guidebook to Murder has it all! A cozy lover's dream come true." —Susan McBride, author of The Debutante Dropout Mysteries

• ISBN10: 1601833067
• ISBN13: 9781601833068
• Publish Date: 7 October 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing
• Imprint: eKensington
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 214
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9781601833068

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

Fun holiday read, and a series I really enjoy. Always a pleasure to be back among Jill and her friends, and the plot was fun (if a little easy.)

I have to say, though: Who the hell is dumb enough to mistake a baby's cry for a stray cat?

[Lynn]

I got an unexpected opportunity to review this book and began reading without looking over the blurb before hand. I was drawn to the cover, which is pretty and seasonal and definitely enticed me to read If The Shoe Kills.

The beginning was a little tricky for me to get into. I read this as a standalone so was unfamiliar with protagonist and cast of supporting characters. Not that it was a problem, as I was able to identify who's who within South Cove's business community within a few pages.

As council liaison, Jill Gardner hosts the monthly business-to-business meetings of the business council at the premises of her Coffee, Books and More. Discussions are usually lively and the majority of the members usually end up locking horns with the Mayor Baylor. This meeting, in the run up to Christmas was no exception, as Mayor Baylor has a talent for rubbing people up the wrong way.
When Jill isn't busy with her store, she spends time with Greg, her toy-boy and South Cove's detective. Despite being in the safest of hands in town, Jill has a talent for finding trouble or in this case a dead body!

Ms. Cahoon has created a light-hearted, likable and witty community of characters. I especially loves some of the slightly back-handed thoughts Jill had. As the details of the death emerge, we are lead along a twisting path of clues to keep the plot fresh.

I normally stick to my preferred genre of romance so I was not expecting a humorous “Who'd it” - It was the last thing I expected to read! To say I enjoyed the book is an understatement. I guess I should caste my net further in the future to remind myself that reading outside of my favourite genre is good for the soul.

***arc received courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley***