It's no secret that I love bargains and cute crime fiction. So scoring a cozy mystery called Death of a Coupon Clipper was a real treat. Not only is this Lee Hollis paperback a thrifty $7.99, but it takes a tongue and cheek look at just how far some people will go to save a buck.
Take heroine Hayley Powell. The Maine winter has not been kind to this talented but underpaid food and cocktails columnist and single mother. In the space of one snowy day, she loses her roof, her car, and her furnace. She's so desperate for cash that she calls her mom to ask for a loan, a decision she instantly regrets. But then she overhears a couple of nurses say that the reality competition show Wild and Crazy Couponing is coming to Bar Harbor. Hayley immediately throws her ski cap into the onion ring. And then, miracle of miracles, she's chosen! It'll be her and no-nonsense nurse Candace Culpepper facing off in the Shop n' Save for all the world to see. At least it will be until Candace is stabbed to death with her very own coupon-cutting scissors. Hayley's bestie Mona is selected to fill the suddenly empty spot -- and leaps to the top of the suspect list. In an effort to clear her, Hayley launches her own investigation. Between sleuthing, cat-sitting for an obese bully of a blue Persian, and keeping up with her column, Hayley's schedule is enough to exhaust even the most on-the-go go-getter. Plus, thanks to her totaled car, she's forced to walk everywhere in the cold. So much for small towns -- and their murders -- being cozy!
And yet, that's exactly what Death of a Coupon Clipper is. Encased in the cocoon of its comforting bubble, you can't help but feel that life is good, everything will work out, and a tasty treat is just a craving away.
Not that that nefarious feline fits in with such warm and fuzzy feels.
Hayley should've schlepped him to the shelter when she had the chance.
