This is the first book in a new series by Kate Young called The Jane Doe Book Club, and it looks like it’s off to a really nice start. I enjoyed the book club ladies for the most part. Patsy was a bit of a downer at times, but I guess since she’d just become a mom, she was losing interest in murder mysteries. I liked the excitement of when Lyla was sleuthing and would actually get away with something–usually sleuths are stopped in their tracks. I’m really anxious to read the next book.
My Goodreads review:
On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I enjoyed the beginning of this new series and the idea of a book club. It was super creepy (but not overly) in some places like the texting perp who killed one of their members had inside intel somewhere in town, but where were they getting it? Uncle Calvin was pretty cool, and I really hope he stays around town long enough in the next book to get to know him and maybe find out a little more about his background with his sister, Lyla’s mom Francis. I just loved Gran, what a hoot! She added the fun touch when Francis was going off on some social tangent or harping at Lyla that she’d make them look bad by being interested in solving crimes.
I was completely surprised by who the perp was, as I’d been leaning toward someone else for most of the last part of the book, but I was glad it wasn’t who I thought it was. I hope that Lyla grows on me just a little more. She seemed level-headed enough most of the time, but sometimes she came off as immature and stubborn just for stubbornness’ sake. I did have some issues with the ARC’s formatting which I hope got fixed in the final copy. And at times, I was rereading dialogue to figure out which character was speaking–I can’t say the formatting was totally responsible for that. I can appreciate the idea of not repeating the same old “he said, she said, I replied” type of thing, but sometimes I just needed more of a clue as to which person was speaking. Again, maybe that was taken care of in the final copy. I’ll definitely be interested in reading the next book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 