She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke Narrator: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Published by Macmillan Audio on January 21, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Romantic Comedy
Length: 10 hrs 24 mins
Pages: 336
Format: Audiobook
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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. But 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.
I should have enjoyed She Doesn’t Have a Clue. It has so many of the elements I like – an isolated location, a closed circle of suspects, a spooky mansion, a quirky main character/ amateur sleuth. Turned out I was annoyed by it most of the time, but not quite enough to quit, probably because it was on audio. The narrator did a good job. Her pace fit the story well and she managed to keep the (too many) characters distinguished from each other. Quite honestly, she’s the reason I stayed around for the reveal and the happy ending.
Kate has come to her ex-fiancé’s wedding at a mansion on an island in the middle of a storm. Kate is a mystery writer and has a habit of lapsing into thinking about her characters and how they would respond to events in her life, which can be a little confusing at first. The first person she runs into is Jake, aka the love interest, a man she used to work with until “the incident.”
When the bride is maybe poisoned, maybe suffers a case of food poisoning, but survives, Kate starts digging around. Plenty of people at the wedding have reason to want the bride dead, including Kate arguably. When she stumbles across the dead body of the bride’s aunt, Kate knows there’s a murderer on the island.
The whole thing is a little too much. Kate misunderstands people and situations so badly that it almost seems purposeful. And everything she does seems to make her more of a suspect – granted someone’s trying to frame her, but still. On top of that, we have secret passages, the lights keep going out, the storm is raging outside, and the place is filled with taxidermied animals. Kate bumbles through the investigation, Jake (mostly) by her side, with the occasional steamy sex scene to remind you that the romance is as important as the mystery.
This one just wasn’t for me. Looking at the reviews though, most people seem to like it, so maybe don’t listen to me.
About Jenny Elder Moke
Jenny Elder Moke is the award-winning author of children’s and adult literature. She enjoys fast-paced adventures with plenty of mysteries, surprising turns, and laughs along the way. Her adult debut, SHE DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE, is a murder-mystery rom-com mash-up for fans of Clue and Knives Out.
Jenny lives in Denver, CO.
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