I talked about Candy Cane Murder in a prior post. By sheer chance, when I'd grabbed that book from the library, thinking it was just a pure Joanne Fluke Hannah Swensen mystery, I'd passed by gloms of books by the other two authoresses. For whatever reason, I didn't pick up any of the Leslie Meier ones - the all holiday/event-themed titles didn't appeal to me, I think it was - but I did pick up one by Laura Levine - the apparent debut novel of the Jaine Austen series, This Pen for Hire. When I realized that the second short story about the wise-cracking Californian coincided with that novel, I was excited, because I liked the urban tone of the novel (a little more relatable to me than a cozy small town where everyone always knew everyone or a rural area where...it was...rural. And you were pregnant.). Also, Levine's short story had been highly comedic.
Well, This Pen For Hire was like a full novel version of that short story. It was a great read. And, the characters were so endearing, I figured out who the real murderer was about halfway to three-quarters of the way through the book (or suspected), but I refused to believe it - I did not want that character, of all the characters, to be the killer. Of course, that was on purpose, but it was still a character connection. And, the novel was wise-cracking humor all the way through. It had some good subplots and really set up the potential for a good cast of characters.
Overall, I'm not sure if this has displaced the warm, fresh-baked coziness of the Hannah Swensen novels in my "unconventional murder mystery heroine" book, but I'm sure as heck letting Jaine munch on Hannah's cookies up there at the top. And...maybe I'll check out a Meier and see if Lucy Stone can chill with Jaine's friend Kandi, a fellow ex-New Yorker. (I'm getting very corny now. Wow.)
In less silly words, I enjoyed the book.
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