Who Tagged Coco’s Neighbor for Murder?
As much as I love my stand by cozy mystery themes, I’m always on the look out for new ones that will be fun. Last year, I enjoyed the first in Sarah E. Burr’s Trending Topics Mysteries featuring a social media influencer. I’m happy to say that the second, #TagMe for Murder, is just as enjoyable.
It’s been a few months since we last visited Coco Cline. Unfortunately, in that time, she’s gotten a new neighbor. Larry Dunmer is a state auditor in town to look at the town’s finances, and he and his wife, Rosalynn, have rented the condo next to Coco for their stay. They are horrible neighbors, complaining about every little thing. And Larry is a creep who everyone quickly learns to have as little to do with as possible.
Unfortunately, Coco and her friend, Jasper, get into it with Larry at the grand opening of the new wine bar in town. The next morning, Larry is found dead at the beach, and the evidence points to Jasper. Coco knows that Jasper isn’t a killer. The problem isn’t coming up with additional suspects for the police. The problem is narrowing them down. Can Coco figure out what happened?
As I said earlier, this is the second book in the series, and it has minor spoilers for the first book in the series. No, it doesn’t reveal who the killer was, but it does talk about some of the red herrings. I will always recommend reading a series in order, but this time there is added reason to do so. Fortunately, both books are entertaining, so you’ll be happy you went back to read the earlier book first.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book is how the characters, Coco in particular, are dealing with the fallout from the events in the first book. So often in the books I read, the characters are much more resilient than someone would be in real life if they went through what was happening to them. While this book never goes dark, part of the character development here is an outflow of what happened in the first book. I completely enjoyed that. I also enjoyed seeing how some of the relationships established in the first book continued to grow here.
The new characters are sharply drawn and do a great job of keeping us guessing until Coco figures things out.
And there is a strong mystery here. The set up in rather obvious to fans of cozy mysteries, but the book doesn’t drag things out any longer than it must. Likewise, I figured out the location of the final clue a few pages before Coco did, but I didn’t know who that clue would reveal as the killer until Coco did. In between, there were lots of twists I didn’t see coming, and I enjoyed watching Coco attempt to solve the case. The killer was a complete surprise, too.
Meanwhile, there was a strong sub-plot involving Coco’s boyfriend that I enjoyed almost as much as the main mystery.
Coco has a blog and runs a business to help others promote their businesses on social media. As I said earlier, I enjoyed seeing this as a hook for a series. I know plenty of authors who comment about how our modern age makes writing mysteries trickier, but I love how this series leans into it, and Coco gets as many clues from the internet as she does from face to face interactions.
#TagMe for Murder is a completely enjoyable sequel. If you are looking for a book you won’t want to put down, you’ll want to make sure this series trends at the top of your to be read pile.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
I am reviewing this as part of a blog tour. To visit the other stops, please follow this link.
And don't forget to enter the full tour giveaway below.
Oh, I'm so thrilled you enjoyed your return visit to Central Shores, Mark. Reading this review made my day. Thank you so much for helping me celebrate Coco's latest release!
ReplyDeleteGlad to read this as I've been hunting for a new series. Already hit Amazon and picked up "#FollowMe for Murder," and will read it over my 4 day vacation.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good!
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