Death of a Coupon Clipper (Hayley Powell Mystery, #3)

by Lee Hollis

Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for Bar Harbor's Island Times, is. . .well, kind of broke. So when she's selected for that extreme coupon-clipping reality game show coming to town. . .

. . . she's thrilled, especially when her competition is nasty nurse Candace Culpepper. But when Haley stumbles across a face-down-in-the-snow Candace--scissors gleaming between her shoulders--she knows the next thing she'll be selected for will probably be a police line-up.

Meanwhile, though Hayley's BFF Mona was only joking about "taking Candace out," Bruce Linney, the Island Times crime reporter, definitely isn't laughing. And what about the smarmy, cold-hearted host of the show, Drew Nickerson, who may have been having a steamy affair with the intentionally-iced nurse? Hayley needs to cut to the chase and find the killer. Everything may hinge on a stray coupon, but Hayley better keep her eyes on the real grand prize: staying out of permanent cold storage!

Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley's kitchen!

Praise for Death of a Kitchen Diva

"Delicious and satisfying. Another course, please." --Carolyn Hart

"Readers will be calling for a second round from author Lee Hollis." --Leslie Meier, author of Chocolate Covered Murder

• ISBN10: 0758267398
• ISBN13: 9780758267399
• Publish Date: 2 July 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 9 January 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Kensington Publishing
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780758267399

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I have a few friends here on GR who read the first book in this series and didn't like it but I found enough to like that I bought and read the second one - which I thought was quite good.

This one was NOT. I really did not enjoy this book at all. It took me forever to finish this one because I just didn't want to.

When I pick up a cozy, it's for entertainment, for escape. Something nice and light, maybe a bit of humour - nothing too 'real'. So when this book started with Hayley being beset by financial disasters, being so broke she has to beg her mom for money, her mom telling her 'no'; well, we're not off to a good light-hearted start are we? I realise the author is trying to set up the whole coupon-clipping-gameshow scenario, but she went about it in the most depressing, downtrodden way possible. Total turn off for me.

In addition to this, Lex, the love interest the author has been championing throughout the series, decides to go on a couple of benders through out the book and Hayley acts like this drunken, aggressive behaviour is a non-event. It's never discussed or even acknowledged - not even when he beats down her brother's door at night, falls down, and passes out on the floor. Really? I'm supposed to find this endearing????

I will give credit to the author for an excellently crafted plot - I did not see the villain of this story at all until the end. Also, the columns throughout the book are cute and entertaining, as well as a clever way to incorporate the recipes and cocktails into the story.

I'll consider the fourth one when it comes out - but this one is a definite black mark on the series so far.