She Doesn't Have a Clue

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“A truce,” she said. “And then we can each go on our own separate way again. Just like before.”

She Doesn't Have a Clue was a locked room cozy mystery that not only gave our female lead character a chance to solve a murder, but also a second chance at love. Kate's surprised at the weekend wedding invite, it's her ex-fiancé getting married, even though he's still her editor. She's even more surprised when she has to make a flying leap to catch the ferry to get to the secluded island the wedding is being held and lands in the arms of Jake. A hot Australian surfer her mother initially set her up with but became fast friends with as she authored two books of photos and stories about his Wandering Australian life. Drunk one night, she finally gets the nerve to make her move but he turns her down. This leads to her breaking their professional relationship, starting her own set of fictional mystery books, which go on to be a huge success and not talking to Jake for two years. When they both show up to the wedding, they're forced to share a room and solve a murder, because the real murderer is working hard to frame Kate and is using the storyline from her books to do it.

“Is that what you think?” Jake asked. “That you’re not enough of a thrill for me?”

Told all from Kate's point-of-view, her character brought a left-of-center, goofy, and clumsy but earnest vibe. She occasionally lapses into Loretta povs, the main character from her fictional books, which I found kind of amusing different but also wasn't the biggest fan as it went on because it took me out of the story I was reading too many times. Even though it's a small wedding, family and friend/work acquaintances from the Indie publishing house, there were still a good number of secondary characters to keep track of. The main gist is that Kate's ex is marrying into an extremely rich family dynasty, who's matriarch, Rebecca, is pretty much hated by all. There's cousins, uncles, brothers, and sisters who all are vying for a piece of the family wealth that Rebecca controls. It's when Rebecca makes an announcement that she's donating the family wealth that things get heated and motives for nefarious maneuverings start to paint herrings red when an attempted murder and actual murder kick off the mystery storyline around the halfway point.

“We’re just going to hang about on an island with a murderer who’s trying to frame us?”

Why aren't the police called? Well, it's a secluded island and there is a storm that has knocked the power out and cell phones don't work, you know how it goes. Kate feels she has to solve the case because she thinks she has the skills through Loretta and someone seems to be setting her up. Jake wants to help her, because it's obvious that he has feelings for her. So while, they're running around pretty much trying to pin it on everyone, they're also trying to fight their physical attraction. They were together enough that I'd say this had a good romance storyline and we do get some flushing of Jake's character out with background on his family dynamics and personality issues from that but mostly, their issue is that obvious could be solved so easily communication conversation that they just can't ever seem to get around to having. There wasn't an incredible amount of emotional depth between them but they had some cute byplay and an open door scene.

Jake paused on the stairs, gripping the railing hard before pivoting and surging up to the step just below her. The height difference put them at eye level, which meant she was staring directly into the storm of his gaze when he spoke.

The murder mystery will probably keep you guessing for most the book but I'm not sure if that was fully because it was good or strung out and scattered with Kate running around too much and accusing too many. The rich family characters were a few too many and I found myself not caring a whole lot about them, so when the mystery centered around them, I wasn't as drawn in as I would have liked. However, if you're looking for some cute and cozy, there's murder but it still felt low stakes, and some cute with Kate and Jake finally finding their way to each other, this would be an easy read pick up.