When Murder is a Trending Topic
I’ve noticed that cozies are starting to branch out into some newer topics. I love that trend. There’s a hook to draw everyone to the cozy mystery, right? I haven’t read many of them – yet – but one I did pick up with #FollowMe for Murder, the first Trending Topic Mystery from Sarah E. Burr.
Coco Cline makes her living as a social influencer and as a consultant helping others make the most of social media for their own benefit. She is lucky to live in her home town of Central Shores, Delaware. Her latest clients are Sean and Olivia Chen, who have hired her to help them set up their second-hand cooking ware store. Coco finds Olivia a bit hard to handle, but overall, she is happy with them as clients.
When the Chens are running late for a meeting in their store, Coco uses her key to let herself in. And that’s when she finds Stacy, their assistant, dead in the backroom. With the police looking at the Chens as their top suspects, Coco sets out to give the police other suspects. Can she do that and help them keep their opening on track?
When you pick up this book, be prepared for a data dump in chapter one. We get lots of background on Coco here. Some of it we needed, but what we needed could have been worked into the story a little better. It’s a major pet peeve of mine (and something easy to do, I know), so I noticed it right away.
However, starting with chapter two, the story builds on that foundation. The pacing is still a little uneven early on, but the plot grows stronger as it goes along, and I was soon caught up in Coco’s investigation and the secrets she was uncovering about Stacy’s life. The ending was perfect logical, especially with the clues Coco had collected along the way.
I really did love the characters. They were all strong, and I never had any trouble keeping them straight. Coco is surrounded by a great group of friends, and I can’t wait to send more time with the series regulars.
I will say that I found Coco’s relationship with her boyfriend interesting. I’m curious to see where that is going. I feel like they both have some maturing to do.
Don’t let the social media aspect of the hook scare you away. Coco still does plenty of in person investigating. Yes, social media does come into play in the plot, but it is never something that is too far outside anyone’s experience. I even laughed a few times at how it impacted the plot.
#FollowMe for Murder is a promising series debut. You can bet I’ll be following to see what Coco gets up to next.
What an honor! I'm so thrilled you enjoyed your time in Central Shores. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really good. Another book for my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of data dumps but in a first book it's not too surprising. The rest of this sounds really fun.
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