Read & Buried

 Read & Buried (2012) by Erika Chase

While at her favorite bookstore, Lizzie Turner gets maneuvered into inviting visiting author Derek Alton to the next meeting of Ashton Corners Mystery Readers & Cheese Straw Society. The smarmy, self-centered, womanizing author invites her to dinner--supposedly to talk about the book club appearance--but it soon becomes apparent that he has something very different in mind. She turns him down flat and leaves the restaurant. Undaunted, the man shows up the next day to "apologize" and "really, truly talk about the book club." Lizzie was in the middle of decorating for Christmas and he insists that she continue while they talk. She has her back to him...and the window...while hanging a bunch of mistletoe...when somebody decides to take a potshot at him. Somebody who has aimed to kill. 

Lizzie's boyfriend, Police Chief Mark Dreyfus, is very perturbed at the incident. But Lizzie thinks he's more upset about the strange man in her living room than the fact that the strange man was murdered. And he and his side-kick Officer Craig seem intent on finding Lizzie's behavior suspicious. But they soon discover that there are plenty of suspects running around town. Because Derek Alton used to live in the area (under another name) and set his first, award-winning book in a small Southern town that seems a lot like Ashton Corners...and the secrets that made the book so interesting are thinly disguised versions of real incidents. And apparently he had a sequel planned that was going to spill even more dirt. So...who felt the need to kill before their secret made it into print?

A kindof decent cozy mystery that I just didn't connect with. I thought a mystery with a book club would be right up my alley. But Lizzie doesn't do much for me as a protagonist. Her answers when Mark and Officer Craig are taking her statement are daft. Why on earth doesn't she tell the straight story the first time? And, if Chase wasn't deliberately trying to make Lizzie look suspicious to the police....well, then that was just poor writing because Lizzie definitely sounds suspicious. And she shouldn't. Especially since the Chief is her boyfriend. There are suspects crawling out of the woodwork, we don't need our main character looking suspicious for no good reason.

And...Lizzie as an amateur detective doesn't really work well either. She spends most of her time running errands and just plain running (every morning come slush or shine). And she goes to work. Sure, she asks questions here and there and digs up a few clues. But it just doesn't feel like a real mystery investigation. And while I spotted the culprit early on--I couldn't give you a good reason why that was so. No real clues come along--there are a few odd conversations that set my suspect radar off, but even when everything gets tidied up at the end, there aren't a list of clues that I could point to and say "See, this and this and that all point to X." Oh...and the ending is a bit rushed and convenient. The culprit just comes along and threatens Lizzie and the cops conveniently show up and cuff them. End of mystery. 

Definitely not as good as anticipated. ★★

First line: "Lizzie Turner, you'd like a signed copy of Derek Alton's award-winning book, wouldn't you?"

Last line: "Merry Christmas, my dear friends."

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Deaths = one shot