Book Review: Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight (Vermont Radio Mysteries #1)

Stars: 1 out of 5

Pros: A few genuine laughs

Cons: Politics over characters, horrible plotting

The Bottom Line:

Intriguing premise

Let down by rest of the book

Avoid at all costs

Politics Makes for a Bad Cozy Mystery

Sometimes, when reading about a new series that sounds interesting, I’ll run across something that makes me realize it isn’t for me. That was the case with Live, Local, and Dead, the first Vermont Radio Mystery from Nikki Knight. However, I forgot about that when the Kindle version went on sale a couple months back, so I snagged it, unfortunately. 

Jaye Jordan has settled in a small Vermont town. It may not be her first choice, but it is close to her ex-husband, so they can share custody of their daughter. And she’s managed to buy the local radio station cheaply, which she fills with satellite programs and an evening request show. 

Her changes at the station haven’t completely gone over well in the community, and in a confrontation with two protestors one day, she takes their rifle and shoots a snowman, knocking his head off. As the remainder of the snowman falls apart over the next few hours, Jaye is dismayed to learned there was a dead man inside. Unfortunately, the victim was Edwin Anger, the right-wing talk show host whose syndicated show she recently removed from her station, leading to the protests. How did he get in that snowman?

Yes, the clear indication of politics was the clue that I should have picked up on that this book wasn’t for me. I really wish I’d remembered that and hadn’t wasted my time. It was very clear early on that this wasn’t even going to attempted to be anything other than a hit piece. Edwin wasn’t depicted as a right wing extremist, he was someone on the right. I’m conservative, but I’ve never heard many of the things he or the other conservative characters were saying. Of course, calling them characters is being generous. They were more like caricatures of how liberals want to view us. 

Of course, Jaye and her friends were better drawn characters. And I did mostly like them. Occasionally, they would say something that was intended to show how wise they were but just fed into the worst stereotypes that conservatives have about liberals. Seriously, a couple of the lines were cringeworthy. I hope there aren’t that many people who actually believe what the characters were saying because that would make the world a sad place. 

Then there’s the plot. Calling this a mystery is a stretch. It is more a series of events hoping to reach a conclusion despite the fact that Jaye does very little investigating.  However, she does put together information in a brilliant way several times, so at least there is that.  To get into my complaints would be to spoil the story, but it truly doesn’t work as a mystery. 

I should also point out that were is quite a bit of foul language in this book.  Most of it is mild, but they do get into some PG-13 territory upon occasion.  (And no, leaving out a letter doesn't mean you aren't taking God's name in vein.)

The book has some funny scenes. Intentionally funny scenes, I should say. However, they felt a little weird given the subject matter of the story. 

It’s a shame the book turned out to be so poor because the premise was top notch. I definitely wanted to see what was going on when I started it. 

And yes, I did finish the book. I don’t feel it is fair to the author to review something I didn’t finish. In this case, I was hoping the book would improve, but clearly that didn’t happen. 

Obviously, I do not recommend Live, Local, and Dead. Between the bad plot and the stereotypical political characters, there is nothing at all to recommend it.