TOUR: If the Shoe Kills, by Lynn Cahoon

The tourist town of South Cove, California, is a lovely place to spend the holidays. But this year, shop owner Jill Gardner discovers there’s no place like home for homicide…As owner of Coffee, Books, and More, Jill Gardner looks forward to the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers. But when the mayor ropes her into being liasion for a new work program, ‘tis the season to be wary. Local businesses are afraid the interns will be delinquents, punks, or worse.

For Jill, nothing’s worse than Ted Hendricks—the jerk who runs the program. After a few run-ins, Jill’s ready to kill the guy. That, however, turns out to be unnecessary when she finds Ted in his car—dead as a doornail. Detective Greg King assumes it’s a suicide. Jill thinks it’s murder. And if the holidays weren’t stressful enough, a spoiled blonde wants to sue the city for breaking her heel. Jill has to act fast to solve this mess—before the other shoe drops…

Lynn Cahoon is here with a guest post – Welcome, Lynn! And she’s giving away an ebook of If The Shoe Kills in the format of your choice!

Guest Post by Lynn Cahoon

Thanks for having me over again…

[You’re always welcome here!  –Lark]

Busy life? Now fit in all the holiday cheer, ho, ho, ho….

It’s that time again. Between the job, the family, and, in my case, the writing – it’s time to fit in all your holiday plans and activities.

For me, the holidays are all about family and food. I love makings special desserts to share and trying out new recipes come with my share of failures. Anyone make No-bake cookies before? Sometimes I wind up with a bowl full of chocolate covered oatmeal, instead of real cookies. And fudge, OMG, I’ve had my share of failed fudge. Too soft, too hard, or burnt, I’ve done it all.

But that’s part of the fun of trying new things. Right?

Since Jill and the South Cove gang are dealing with holiday hijinks, I thought we’d talk about my five favorite food related holiday events.

#5 – Cookie exchange. OMG, what could be more fun than baking six dozen of your favorite cookie recipe, then meeting up with girlfriends for an evening of sugar and wine. And, if you plan it right, you’ve got cookies to give away for holiday gifts to those around you.

#4 – Work Pot Luck – We call them food days at my new job. While I worked for Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, it was a holiday party. Two hours of eating and singing Christmas carols, including Roger Garidel’s version of Little St Nick, with all the new hires for the year. And Shirley Carrier’s Rum Cake! Miss you guys.

#3 – Caroling with lots of hot chocolate before and after.

#2 – Christmas candy. Boxes and boxes of the stuff would arrive at the house when I was a kid. It was the only time we got fancy candy. Most of the time, we had the homemade variety. I adored the assortment, especially those with nuts. Now, I make sure I give away a few boxes, just because. J

#1 – Family meals. We host Thanksgiving, which is always a good time and good food. A couple of years, we went out for the meal, but it wasn’t the same. I make a mean fresh cranberry sauce that I put on everything for the next month.

So what is your favorite holiday tradition? Does it involve food like mine?

Lyn

 LARK: Oh, I hear you on the fudge – I’ve never gotten it to come out right, so now I just buy it. Cookies, though – I like baking cookies. And pumpkin bread around Thanksgiving.

As a singer, one of my favorite things about Christmas is the music – not so much the Christmas songs like “Rudolph” or “Jingle Bells” but the traditional carols. And I absolutely love singing the descants! 

My favorite family holiday traditions are watching A Christmas Carol and A Child’s Christmas in Wales before Christmas, singing carols and reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning: tea while we open stockings, mimosas and my mom’s egg-sausage-bake for brunch, followed by a leisurely opening of presents in front of the tree, while glorious Christmas music pours through the house. Then on Boxing Day, we head over to my sister’s house for the larger family gathering – and a second Christmas dinner!

Review

Lynn Cahoon has penned another light, entertaining mystery in If The Shoe Kills. This time, Jill has even more going on than in the last two books. Between the intern work program, the mayor’s wife’s attempt to take over the town’s Christmas decorations, a book drive for a daycare program for underprivileged children, stained-glass classes, her boyfriend’s jealous ex-wife, and oh, yeah, that little matter of a suicide that just might be murder, Jill is practically run off her feet. But not so much that she can’t squeeze in a little investigating!

To be honest, there’s so much going on, and so many characters, that the book feels a little choppy at times, and there are one or two minor inconsistencies.  As for the mystery itself, well, there are a lot of potential suspects and not a lot to go on at first! Once the clues started to build up, I did manage to put most of the pieces together before the reveal, but I  had a good time figuring it out. The post-solution ending seemed a little facile and there were some . . . not loose ends, exactly, but motivations and attitudes that didn’t quite ring true or weren’t fully explained.

Despite those relatively minor complaints, I had fun catching up with Jill, her detective boyfriend Greg, her outspoken Aunt Jackie, and Toby, her part-time barista who is also Greg’s part-time cop, as well as the other inhabitants and business owners of South Cove.  And I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next one – with Jill and Greg, and with the new business owner in town! (Hint: there’s potential for trouble!)

Giveaway

Win a copy of If the Shoe Fits in the ebook format of your choice!

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Cruisin' Thru the Cozies 2014

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