Liver Let Die - Liz Lipperman

Liver Let Die is the first in the Clueless Cook mystery series.  The main character, Jordan, has moved to a small town north of Dallas and writes the personals for the local newspaper after being dumped by her boyfriend.  Eager to move up at the newspaper, she agrees to take over the kitchen column although she is not a foodie herself. 

 

This cozy was just so-so for me.  It wasn't really good or bad, per say.  There were a couple of things that kind of jarred me out of the story because I thought they were so unrealistic.  For example, at one point Jordan is trying to track down a high school student.  She goes to the school and the receptionist just points her toward the student without asking if she is family or getting any ID, which just seemed crazy.  Another example was when her editor told her to introduce herself as being a reporter doing a review when going to review a restaurant because then she would get better service.  Wouldn't that slant the review? 

 

Besides those details those it was fine, just kind of ho-hum.  I didn't really connect with the character or feel very engaged. It just all came across as rather flat to me. However, the mystery had a bit of a surprise ending and I didn't figure it out.

 

We see the beginnings of a budding romance between Jordan and Alex.  However, Alex is leaving town.  Plus, at the end of this book they set up the second one and it sounds like Jordan will be going on a date with someone else.  So I don't know if Alex is out of the picture or if we are headed for a love triangle.

 

As a side note, it looks like the first three books are published by Penguin and the fourth one is independently published.  This is a trend I am seeing more and more as established series are able to continue even after not continuing with the mainstream publisher.