This book is a cozy mystery the way I like 'em. There are no small town cupcake shops that employ magical baking cats who knit in their spare time. It was marketed as a cozy because it's light on gore, violence and "bad language," but it doesn't devolve into any of the cutesy crap that the subgenre has morphed into. It's cozy in the way that Sue Grafton would sometimes be cozy, and y'all I was here for it.
Dayna Anderson is a nice Southern girl and retired actress. She's also flat broke. After a successful run as a spokesperson for a fast food chicken franchise, she's made the decision to quit Hollywood and find another line of work. The problem being that she hasn't yet, has been relying on temp jobs, and well....she's broke. Then her father calls. The bank is about to foreclose on her parents' house. Dayna is desperate. She'll do anything to help her parents. And that's when she sees the billboard. Haley Joseph, pretty, young and blonde, was killed in a hit a run and the cops have opened up a tip line, offering a reward. If a tip comes in leading to an arrest? That person will be $15,000 richer. Dayna, seeing no other options, decides to to play amateur private detective.
This story has a lot going for it. Our lead protagonist is a Black woman who has had a boob job, and not villainized for it. She investigates Haley's death with the help of her two best friends, Sienna, an ambitious would-be actress and Emme, a tech nerd who happens to be the twin sister of a famous actress. The LA setting is well drawn, and Garrett's occasional skewering of the entertainment industry hits all the right notes. I was enjoying this quite a bit, until I wasn't.
About halfway through it just starts to descend into too much silliness. Dayna has a tendency to exclaim privately (in her own head) things like "Fudge" and "Blergh" when things don't go her way. Then there's Aubrey S. Adams-Parker. This guy y'all. We never get his full story (presumably fodder for the next book in the series?), but he's apparently a former cop who is now a private investigator. Oh and he doesn't drive - he rides a bike. Yes, in LA. It's hard to not have a car in this town and this guy is a private investigator? Sure Jan. Also, since he rides a bike that means he wears a reflector suit and he keeps showing up in the middle of Dayna's snooping. And it's always "Aubrey S. Adams-Parker," never just Aubrey or weirdo guy wearing a reflector suit. I think he's supposed to be funny, but frankly he's tedious.
Dayna keeps calling the tip line and talking to a gum smacking operator who doesn't take her seriously because by the end of this thing Dayna has accused four different people of running Haley down. The truth comes out in the end, but by that point the ending dragged on a little too long and things got a little too convoluted, and what started out as a fun, breath of fresh air read for me, turned into a book that took me three weeks to finish.
Look, there are definite high points here. Like a said, a Black woman protagonist with a group of friends who solve a mystery together - this is not something growing on trees. Also Garrett does an excellent job with the setting and the cozy vibes. It's just that the humor didn't always land for me, and humor is subjective as hell. Among my mutuals there are folks who really loved this book and folks who, like me, were more "this is OK but didn't always work for me." On the bright side, nobody seemed to outright hate it - so definitely one where mileage is gonna vary. If this sounds like your thing? I definitely think it's worth a look.
Final Grade = C+
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