Murphy's Slaw (An Alaskan Diner Mystery, #3)

by Elizabeth Logan

When a local prize-winning farmer is murdered at the state fair, Charlie Cook gets called in to help investigate, but she’s shocked to learn the victim is a friend in this latest installment in the Alaskan Diner Mysteries.

Charlie Cooke loves many things, like the Bear Claw Diner, the heated steering wheel of her car, and her orange tabby cat Eggs Benedict. Something she has never loved is the state fair. So when her best friend Annie Jensen begs her for a fair day, she’s reluctant.  But Annie isn’t the only one who wants her to spend a day among farm animals and deep fried food. A vendor has been murdered, and Trooper Graham needs his favorite part-time sleuth to dig up the truth, and Charlie is happy to oblige.

The case grows personal when Charlie learns the victim is Kelly Carson, whom she and Annie were friends with in high school. If Charlie wants to find justice for Kelly, she and Annie will have to work together to weed out the killer.

• ISBN10: 0593100484
• ISBN13: 9780593100486
• Publish Date: 1 June 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593100486

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Murphy's Slaw is the third book in the Alaskan Diner cozy series by Elizabeth Logan. Released 6th June 2021 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in paperback, library binding, 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. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is an engaging and easy-to-read cozy, complete with amateur deputies, a stabbing at a fair, lots of on-page face-time with the main character's cat, Benny, some BFF drama, and lots and lots of food and goings on at a small town diner. The inclusion of semi-official deputized amateurs (including a diner owner, motel manager, and a reporter) on an official murder inquiry stretches the suspension of disbelief, but once readers get past that, it's a fun read.

The pool of suspects is small, and although the denouement and resolution are fairly easy to guess beforehand, they're well written and mostly satisfying. Even though it's the third book in the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone. The language is clean, there's a very light romance plot element, but no graphic violence or sexual content. This would be a good choice for lovers of light cozies, the kind with recipes in the back of the book, complete with cat.

Four stars. This will appeal to lovers of small-town cozy mysteries.

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