Saturday 5 March 2022

#FollowMe For Murder (Trending Topic Mysteries, #1) by Sarah E. Burr (2022)

 



Meet 28-year-old influencer and celebrity blogger Coco Cline, who has started her own social media consulting firm in her hometown of Central Shores, Delaware. Her new clients, Sean and Olivia Chen, are ten days away from the grand opening of their specialty consignment shop when Coco stumbles across their store clerk Stacy dead behind the register.

Worried that a cloud of suspicion will ruin their chances of a successful business launch, the Chens ask Coco to work alongside the inexperienced Central Shores police force to speed up the investigation. Using her celebrity status and social media savviness, Coco realizes Stacy’s seemingly ordinary life was all an act.

Following a trail of cryptic online posts, confusing timelines, and muddied gossip, Coco and her friends discover Stacy’s questionable relationships just might be the reason for her untimely demise.

Murder is about to go viral in #FollowMe for Murder, Book One in the Trending Topic Mysteries.


I have mixed feelings about this book as there were aspects that I loved and others that I had more of a lukewarm response to. 
I liked that this is a modern and up to date twist on the traditional cozy mystery.
I've given it a solid four stars simply because I enjoyed but it was glaringly obvious from the clues given who the most likely culprits were so it didn't come as any surprise when it was all revealed. I also found the first chapter a bit of a slog to get through. I understand the whole concept of being a social media influencer so I didn't need a full chapter dedicated to explaining Coco's history in that respect.
But once I got past that the story became quite fast-paced and enjoyable. I liked the fact that she wasn't dating a police detective but I was surprised that she was so focused on why her boyfriend hadn't proposed yet. For a book set in today's real world, I felt that Coco could have been more modern in her personal life and more broad-minded. There was a lot of slut shaming going on in relation to the victim as well which I found old fashioned and eye rollingly unnecessary.
I loved the ending. It was suspenseful and humorous. Hudson really grew on me as the story unfolded as his regard for her certainly shone through despite Coco's insecurities. 
I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the series.


No comments:

Post a Comment