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Saturday, March 30, 2024

Rhythm and Clues - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Rhythm and Clues (Record Shop Mystery #3) by Olivia Blacke

Rating: Liked It! (3.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  It’s been five whole months since the last murder in Cedar River, Texas, and Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie have been humming along when disaster strikes again.

Their struggling vinyl records shop/coffee nook, Sip & Spin Records, is under pressure from predatory investors, though the Jessup sisters aren’t ready to face the music and admit defeat. But the night after their meeting, the sketchy financier is killed outside their shop during a torrential Texas thunderstorm that washes out all the roads in and out of town. Now the sisters find themselves trapped in Cedar River with a killer, and Juni is determined to solve the case.

When the river spits out an unexpected surprise, Detective Beau Russell asks for Juni’s help, never predicting her investigation will spin her into danger. Up until now, the Jessup sisters have been playing it by ear, but with
the whole town watching, can they catch a killer before he strikes again?

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I've read the previous two books in the series and enjoyed them.

My Impression: So far I've enjoyed this series about three sisters running a record store in a little town in Texas.  The sisters are still struggling to keep their head above water running a small business in a small town and always feel like they are teetering on the edge of disaster.  I really like that the record store isn't immediately doing amazing and the sisters are having to come up with different marketing ideas and other things to keep the business running.  This includes spending time with a potential investor who happens to be an irritating man child that Juni briefly knew in college.  Things of course come to a rather catastrophic ending with a power outage, a terrible storm and the irritating man child being found dead in front of the record store.  

I like Juni's relationship with her sisters and watching them run the business.  Things aren't always sunshine and rainbows but (other than random murders of course) the level of drama is fairly realistic.  As well, the mystery kept me interested and I enjoyed getting to the big reveal.  Juni can be a bit immature sometimes but mostly with her sisters which fits with her being the youngest sister.  The two things that keep this series from being a winner for me is a love triangle between two good guys who I'm really starting to feel deserve better than being "casually dated" by someone they both want to seriously date.  The other is probably a just me thing but Juni rides around town on an adult trike which is fine but it just gets mentioned SO many times throughout the book that it gets a bit eye rolly.

Overall, this is a fun mystery series with a bit of music and a bit of coffee and a lot of small town quirky.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? I would!  While the series isn't perfect, overall, I really enjoy it and will be keeping an eye out for the next one.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you enjoy cozy mysteries this is a fun series to start and it's one you could jump in  here without having to go to the beginning.  

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

5 comments:

  1. The cover and title put me in mind of the movie High Fidelity with John Cusack. Most of it takes place in a record store from decades back. Nice review!

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  2. I like the Texas setting in the inclement weather, which brings drama and suspense to the story.

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  3. Lovely review, Katherine! This sounds like an entertaining series - the only reason I'm hesitating is that I'm allergic to love triangles where anyone caught up wants to be serious.

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  4. I love that it's about three sisters running a record store...fun to have something other than a bakery or a coffee shop in a cozy for a change. ;D

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  5. As usual, I'm behind on my reading but this one is coming up. Sounds like another good one.

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