Sawyer is settling into her life as a bookstore owner and responsible adult for her fifteen-year-old stepsister. Local girl that made it big as an author visits town and does a book singing. She’s brought her husband Zane, who broke up with Sawyer’s best friend Renee years ago. At the end of the afternoon, Zane is found in Renee’s walk-in freezer with a head wound. Renee herself is nowhere to be found.

Slowly, the evidence stacks up against Renee, but Sawyer can’t believe her best friend would hurt her ex and becomes convinced Renee is being framed. With the help of her step-sister who turns out to have kick-ass computer skills and members of her book club, Sawyer sets out to prove Renee’s innocence.

I can’t say I liked this story. The plot was alright. There is a bit too much of Sawyer's thoughts giving commentary that take the show out of many scenes.

It’s the people in it that bothered me. Madge and the Admiral are caricatures. Brittany seems too much like a normal fifteen-year-old (with her teenage tantrums) for someone that has been taking care of themselves from a young age. She learned hacker skills while living on the street and used to scam predators. I would have expected more trust issues and defiance of authority.

And most of all I disliked Dylan constantly pulling Sawyer in and then pushing her away again. Maybe if he’d stop running away from his problems, she’d stop trying to fix them for him. Can’t say I see what she sees in him, but apparently betrayed trust doesn’t make people skeptic in this story.

Thematically, there is a lot in this story that would fit right into a psychological thriller, but because this is a cozy, only the surface of the issues was scratched. Too bad.

Final note: this book is the second in the series and contains spoilers to the first book.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.