She Doesn’t Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke

Posted January 20, 2025 in review Tags: 4 stars, murder mystery, second chance

She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke
Length: 10 Hours 24 minutes

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Mystery
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Narrator: Sarah Mello-Christensen

Goodreads

With a colorful cast of characters and a cellar full of wine, anything can happen—from murder to a second chance at love—in Jenny Elder Moke's half mystery, half romance adult debut set at a lavish destination wedding.

A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.

Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift.

When the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.

As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

She Doesn’t Have a Clue is an adorable mystery romance that I found charming! The book is set at a wedding, so there are so many characters (and personalities). But, before the wedding, the bride is poisoned and a guest dies! Kate, a mystery author, is determined to solve the murder, and Jake, her former crush.

Kate is so strange and weird, but in a charming, adorable way. Jake is wonderful! He was really the star of the story for me (and I think for other romance fans). There is a LOT going on in plot and sometimes that got a little confusing. This is a whodunit story, and with all the various wedding guests, it creates a lot of possibilities for potential suspects. Overall, I really enjoyed this-its a light, fun, mystery with romance. Seriously, I love all those things! My only struggle with the book was Kate would randomly think about her book character/plot and it got kind of confusing.

The narrator, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, was new to me but I found her narration to be great! She does a good job with various characters and that was important when you are listening and trying to keep everyone straight.