Hooked on Murder

[cornerofmadness]

Hooked on Murder by Betty Hechtman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


One of those library discards I've had on my physical shelf for years and the Popsugar challenge is the (horribly) named Granny Hobby and it's all about crocheting. Okay so this came out in the early 00s but even then I find it hard to believe being a book store events planner was ever that big of a deal that people would stab each other in the back over. But that's sort of where we open with Molly Pink, who's working with an indie bookstore in CA and the woman who pushed Molly out of her own late husband's celebrity publicist job, Ellen is murdered and she's found at the scene of the crime.

To clear her name because newish boyfriend, Barry the detective can't help because she's involved, Molly joins up with the Tarzana hookers because Ellen was a member and she thinks her friends might have some ideas as to who would want Ellen dead. Detective Heather who is on the case also wants Barry as a boyfriend so she has it in for Molly and seems to be an incompetent twit (but it's hard to say as we barely see her and it's all filtered through Molly's insecurities.

Molly and her bestie, Dinah, don't actually know how to crochet but they learn uber fast because Ellen has left the hookers in a lurch. Their charity blanket won't get done without her so Molly throws in with these women including Adele who also works in the bookstore and doesn't like Molly, Cee Cee the minor celebrity among others. Ellen's husband wants to see Molly arrested (and if she keeps awkwardly investigating his house he'd have cause).

To be honest, I didn't much like any of these women. Molly isn't awful, she's just uninteresting to me. Even her relationship with Barry isn't interesting other than he wants more commitment to give a stable homelife to his 13 year old son and she's not into it. Molly's own kids are grown and her sons act like she's ready for a nursing home and hate Barry (in fact I wasn't sure how old she was until much later in the book she mentions her husband died at 51 so I realize she's probably my age and now I hate her sons even more). Barry wins no prizes either when he buys tickets (non refundable) for a vacation she tells him she didn't want to go on and gaslights her into thinking she does and stalks off when she doesn't go for it (worse her friends go 'most women would find this romantic. No, most women would find this controlling)

The ending was at least not Molly doing something stupid to get into trouble. That said I wasn't all that interested in any of this and wouldn't go out of my way to find more of it.



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