Rockets' Dead Glare

Rockets’ Dead Glare by Lynn Cahoon is A Tourist Trap Mystery novella. Jill Gardner is the owner of Coffee, Books and More in South Cove, California. The town is getting ready for the annual Fourth of July Festival, but new volunteer fire chief Barry Gleason is putting a crimp in the plans. He has created a stir with his list of violations for each business along with the threat of closing them down for the holiday weekend. Barry has scheduled a controlled burn of an old barn on Beal Street. The volunteer fire fighters complete the training exercise but get a shock when they find Barry dead inside the barn. Jill, with her natural curiosity, cannot help but look into the case. Come along to South Cove for the Fourth of July and Jill’s latest case in Rockets’ Dead Glare. Rockets’ Dead Glare is satisfying cozy mystery. It is a short novella (only 77 pages), but the author packed a lot into those pages. We get to catch up on our favorite characters as they plan for the town’s Fourth of July. The characters are well-developed and are relatable. South Cove is a charming small town with quaint shops and festivities for every holiday. I thoroughly enjoyed the cunning mystery. I believe some of you will be surprised with the solution. The mystery was not neglected in this short story (it was not rushed or incomplete). I do wish that Greg King, Jill’s boyfriend, would get on board with her sleuthing. Jill’s inquisitiveness is a part of her and he needs to be more understanding. If he is worried about her being in danger, then he needs to teach her self-defense (I cannot see Jill carrying a gun). Rockets’ Dead Glare is well-written and has a nice, steady pace. I can relate to Aunt Jackie wanting to use walkie talkie’s for communicating with her off-site employees (they do come in handy when you have a technologically challenged person in your life). There are delightful cozy moments in the book with Emma (Jill’s dog), talking about books, food, time with friends, and walking on the beach. Rockets’ Dead Glare is a gratifying cozy mystery that will tide me over until the next A Tourist Trap Mystery (A Deadly Brew).

It is a Tourist Trap Mystery! That is all I should have to say but of course, I always have more. I lvoe this series! Those characters we love in a mystery with a twist. Although Rockets' Dead Glare is a novella, I did not feel shorted at all and I was glad to get time with some of my favorite people in this space between novels. First, I had read where each of the novellas fall in the sequence but had forgotten that they take place earlier than the last book I read. It only took a moment to adjust but that was a real Hey, wait a minute, moment. I know fans will love it and I believe that it could work as the first book read in the series but this is definitely one of the series that is best read in sequence because new characters are added and relationships shift. When the fire chief takes it upon himself to introduce new standards and inspects every business in town he manages to find pages worth of violations in every business. Allowing less that a week for remediation, he becomes the most hated man in town. In fact, everyone wants to wring his neck. BUT that isn't what does him in.

I wish it said in the description which books this Novella fell between. It's a good read. If you're looking for something short and entertaining to read during down time at work or home this is a good choice. The author always does a sentence or two bit of back story on characters so if this is your first time reading about them you won't feel lost or disconnected from them.