Killer Run (Tourist Trap Mystery, #5)

by Lynn Cahoon

Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More—has somehow been talked into sponsoring a 5k race along the beautiful California coast. The race is a fundraiser for the local preservation society—but not everyone is feeling so charitable…
 
The day of the race, everyone hits the ground running…until a local business owner stumbles over a very stationary body. The deceased is the vicious wife of the husband-and-wife team hired to promote the event—and the husband turns to Jill for help in clearing his name. But did he do it? Jill will have to be very careful, because this killer is ready to put her out of the running…forever!
 
“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: 1601834187
• ISBN13: 9781601834188
• Publish Date: 18 August 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing
• Imprint: Lyrical Underground
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 196
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9781601834188

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

*I was given an ARC by the publisher, Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review*

Killer Run is book 5 in the Tourist Trap Mystery series. Bookstore owner Jill is talked into sponsoring a 5k run to benefit the preservation society who is dragging their feet in declaring the old mission ruins in Jill's backyard as a bonafide Spanish Mission site. One of the race's promoters is found dead during the race, and Jill (with sidekick Aunt Jackie) race to solve the murder and the vandalism at another of South Cove's businesses.

I really enjoyed the book. It was nice to see more of Aunt Jackie drawn into the story and fleshed out more of her character.I'm wondering what the next book will hold with all the foreshadowing on Jackie's health. I also enjoyed Sasha's teasing of Toby. How long until they get set up together? Next book's a good bet. I'm hoping for some more character development going forward with Toby (and Greg for that matter)

As for the plot, there were two crimes for Jill to solve, the murder of the race promoter, and the vandalism at the train shop. The Josh-capade of finding the victim was pretty funny, I had a pretty good mental picture of it in my head. I did feel that there wasn't enough time getting to know the victim, who is in the book for only a short scene before turning up dead, and even the suspects don't have much in the way of character development. Without knowing anything about the victim, I didn't have a good feel for who the suspects were and why, which means I wasn't as engaged with it as I was in previous books. However, the plot was The plot was very good though, lots of twists and there were a couple of red herrings that made me question who I thought was involved with the crimes and they were done very well.

Overall, another enjoyable entry in the Tourist Trap series and looking forward to many more.