It’s October in South Cove, California, and the locals in the quaint resort seem to be happily pairing off in the lull before the holidays. Everyone, that is, except for Jill Gardner’s elderly aunt, who just dumped her besotted fiancé—and she won’t say why. When Jill hosts a talk at Coffee, Books, and More on the topic of elder abuse, all that’s really on her mind is lunch. But the topic hits … lunch. But the topic hits close to home when she discovers Aunt Jackie has been getting mysterious calls. Jill’s certain the caller is a con artist, of course, but her feisty aunt claims to understand this, though she’s still shaken—and Harrold’s still heartbroken. Who’s behind the scam and why was her aunt targeted? When a volunteer from the Senior Project is found murdered, Jill’s detective boyfriend is on the case—and it soon becomes clear no one is safe when a caller from beyond becomes a killer in their midst.
Praise for The Tourist Trap Mysteries
“I love the author’s style, which was warm and friendly . . . [A] wonderfully appealing series.”
—Dru’s Book Musings
“Light, fun, and kept me thoroughly engaged.”
—The Young Folks
more
I love this series!! They’re enjoyable and fun mysteries.
This was an enjoyable read. Lots of characters to keep up with, but if I read more of this series, as I often do, they will fall into line.
Love this whole series
Just love the Jill and Greg dynamics. She has an interesting mind. The secondary characters add to each story line/mystery.
Memories and Murder earns 5/5 Cups and Treats…Engaging Entertainment!
Excellent! I am a recent convert to Lynn Cahoon’s Tourist Trap series and holiday novellas, and as a newly christened senior citizen, I can attest to the countless phone calls with too-good-to-be-true offers or “call us immediately” threats. This very contemporary theme kept me totally engaged and enjoying a bit of vicarious karma. Our heroine, Jill Gardner, worries about her Aunt Jackie, who has been struggling lately after calling off her engagement. She hasn’t explained what happened, not even the future groom knows what he did, and when asked, Aunt Jackie reminds Jill it is none of her business. Jill knows something’s wrong, but didn’t expect “something” unbelievable.
Lynn Cahoon’s writing style is very entertaining with descriptive language and dialogue that illustrates the small town setting and various characters along with tone, emotions, and personalities. Jill, with realistic reasoning and responses and collaborative nature with law enforcement (The deputy IS her boyfriend.), gets involved in another murder. As city council liaison, Jill arranged for a guest speaker from the Senior Project, an advocacy group to protect seniors from scammer, frauds, and abusers. Paula Woods has made elder abuse her cause since her grandmother had once been a victim of a scam. But, it’s Paula’s boyfriend, also a volunteer at the Senior Project, who ends up dead. Is it their relationship or the job that is a motive for murder?
The story was very engaging with the right amount of personal peril, but it’s the characters that drive the story for me. All in all a great book and emphasizing the scams seniors can be faced creates a chilling tale! Bonus! Lynn tweaked a recipe to get “the perfect cookie” for readers to enjoy. Try her recipe for Easy Almond Cookies for you holiday cookie exchange.
Memories and Murder
Tourist Trap Mysteries, Book #10
Lynn Cahoon
5 Stars
Synopsis:
It’s October in South Cove, California, and the locals in the quaint resort seem to be happily pairing off in the lull before the holidays. Everyone, that is, except for Jill Gardner’s elderly aunt, who just dumped her besotted fiancé—and she won’t say why.
When Jill hosts a talk at Coffee, Books, and More on the topic of elder abuse, all that’s really on her mind is lunch. But the topic hits close to home when she discovers Aunt Jackie has been getting mysterious calls. Jill’s certain the caller is a con artist, of course, but her feisty aunt claims to understand this, though she’s still shaken—and Harrold’s still heartbroken. Who’s behind the scam and why was her aunt targeted? When a volunteer from the Senior Project is found murdered, Jill’s detective boyfriend is on the case—and it soon becomes clear no one is safe when a caller from beyond becomes a killer in their midst.
Praise for The Tourist Trap Mysteries
“I love the author’s style, which was warm and friendly . . . [A] wonderfully appealing series.”
—Dru’s Book Musings
“Light, fun, and kept me thoroughly engaged.”
—The Young Folks (Goodreads)
Review:
The writing style flows smoothly and it defines the characters very clearly by their actions and words. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and she has created a setting, South Cove, California, that I would like to visit. It would be so great to be able to go into Coffee, Books and More, grab a drink and pastry, and visit with everybody.
The characters are well developed, well rounded and three dimensional. Anytime I get to spend time with Jill, Greg, and the rest of the gang is time well spent. In this book,we got to learn a little bit more about Aunt Jackie’s life and it made her seem more vulnerable and human.
The mystery was well plotted and carried on well throughout the entire book. There were enough clues to sift through and suspects to consider and was not easily solved. I was pretty sure I knew who the culprit was, but I was only partially right.
I would highly recommend this book (and series) to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. In my opinion, the books just keep getting better.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, and NetGalley, which I greatly appreciate.
I read every book in this series as it comes out. I read her other series as well but this is my favorite one. I love the coastal town, the small town feel and the problems of knowing most everyone in the area. The lead character owns a bookstore/coffee house that her Aunt truly runs by force of her personality. Her aunt’s romantic life have grown in the books, as hers with her Police Chief bow. All her friends are fun to spend time with and her dog is a treat as well. If you like cozy mysteries, I think you’ll love all of these, if you’re like me, you just wish you could have homes in all the places you read about and be BFFs with all the characters. I don’t tell the plot, that’s what reading is for but I think you’ll enjoy finding that out for yourself.
“Memories and Murder” book 10 in the ”A Tourist Trap Mystery” series by Lynn Cahoon is a quick and enjoyable read.
It’s October in South Cove, California, and the locals in the quaint resort seem to be happily pairing off in the lull before the holidays. Everyone, that is, except for Jill Gardner’s elderly aunt, who just dumped her besotted fiancé—and she won’t say why.
When Jill hosts a talk at Coffee, Books, and More on the topic of elder abuse, all that’s really on her mind is lunch. But the topic hits close to home when she discovers Aunt Jackie has been getting mysterious calls. Jill’s certain the caller is a con artist, of course, but her feisty aunt claims to understand this, though she’s still shaken—and Harrold’s still heartbroken. Who’s behind the scam and why was her aunt targeted? When a volunteer from the Senior Project is found murdered, Jill’s detective boyfriend is on the case—and it soon becomes clear no one is safe when a caller from beyond becomes a killer in their midst.
This go around Jill and her Auntie Jackie are dealing with scams, especially on older citizens. I thought Lynn did a fabulous job of highlighting potential scams that might trap anyone that isn’t aware or watching what is happening to them. Now a days you get phone scams or internet scams almost daily so I was glad it showed how people prey on the elderly. It really saddens me when I hear of people abusing or taking advantage of the elderly.
I was surprised when everything came to light and who all was involved. I did suspect but then due to some clever red herrings, doubt myself. I really enjoyed this story and am Happily waiting for the next.
I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Memories and Murder by Lynn Cahoon is the 11th installment in the Tourist Trap Mystery series.
This is the first book that I have read in this series and it was so enjoyable and easy to follow that I did not feel lost or out of place diving right in. I can see however, that by reading all off the previous books in order would most certainly add to my enjoyment.
This book was so good that I plan on reading all of the previous books.
I enjoyed the whole host of characters. They were relatable, hilarious, and a few were quirky (hello Esmerelda), and truly added to my overall enjoyment.
I love Jill Gardner as the main female protagonist and cannot wait to read more!
I am glad this book also brought to light the serious issue of elder abuse. As someone that is a healthcare provider, I know how widespread this is, and am very serious about this being addressed. I am glad that this book offered a step in the right direction.
5/5 stars
Memories and Murder is a Tourist Trap Mystery by Lynn Cahoon which takes us back to Coffee, Books, and More, and proprietor Jill Gardner and her Aunt Jackie. Aunt Jackie is being scammed. She is getting phone calls from her long dead husband, Ted, and it has her so flummoxed that she has broken her engagement to Harrold. She was a lucky woman, she had found love twice and now she was messing it up. No one could understand it-she and Harrold were perfect together, but no one knew about the phone calls. Plus there was a murder for Greg to solve. In Jill’s opinion, Ben was a lowlife and not worth worrying about, but murder was illegal. And she could not have Greg charging Ben’s girlfriend, Paula, with the murder. She had not done it, Jill was sure.
Jill Gardner is a force to be reckoned with. She has it all: she runs a successful business, she has tons of friends, and she has the love of her life, Greg, a police detective in their little town of South Cove. She is the head of business-to-business council and had just finished listening to a boring but informative talk on elder abuse. Elder abuse takes many forms and in this case it is all about scamming the elderly out of money. Jill and Greg can’t let that lie. Greg is a hardworking, smart, loving man. He has friends in his twos subordinates, Toby and Tim. Toby works part time for Jill and lives in a small apartment out back of her house so he can save money. They are both great guys, as is Deek, another part-time employee at CBM. The sales have gone up 10% since he started working and he runs all the book groups. Jill had really lucked out with him! They are a close and loving group living a good life. This is a very fun book (hard to say when murder is involved) broaching a topic that should be important to us all. I highly recommend it, and the
entire series.
I received a free ARC of Memories and Murder from Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #memoriesandmurder
Two mysteries and a murder. The question is can Jill Gardner stop her Aunt Jackie from making a terrible mistake before she loses money and so much more. It doesn’t help that Jackie is keeping tight-lipped about what is happening. Her investigating is keeping her so busy she almost doesn’t have time to snoop around in a murder investigation until she fears that an innocent person is going to be charged.
I enjoyed a lot about this story. The plot is engaging and the realistic characters are people I would like to get to know better. The story also does an excellent job of shining a light on scams focused on cheating elders.
Thanks to Lyrical Underground and NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.
After reading the previous book in this series, Killer Party, I was itching to know what was going on with Aunt Jackie, so when I read Memories and Murder, I was completely thrown to find out the truth! In this book, our protagonist Jill is surprisingly less interested in the murder of a local man than she is in unraveling her aunt’s big mystery. I had a hard time putting this book down, because both mysteries had me hooked and I couldn’t wait to see how it all turned out. I love the characters and the small, seaside town in this series, not to mention Jill’s book/coffee shop where they dole out sweet treats made by Jill’s friend Sadie. Sadie also plays a more prominent role in this story, which was nice. Like me, you may be surprised by the ending, so if you like mysteries that keep you guessing, this is one for you! I hope this Lynn Cahoon series continues for a long time, because I love the well-written mysteries and realistic, likeable characters.
I received an advance copy of this story. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
I always enjoy a new adventure featuring protagonist Jill Gardner, owner of a cool coffee shop/bookstore in the small coastal town of South Cove. There are many likable characters in the Tourist Trap series such as Jill’s fiancé, Detective Greg King; her best friend Amy; her Aunt Jackie; ant the handsome baristas who help run the shop.
Aunt Jackie has everyone worried since she broke her engagement to Harrold Snider, who owns a shop across the street from Coffee, Books, and More. When Jill finally finds out why, she and Greg are, at once, shocked and suspicious. Author, Lynn Cahoon blends an intricate plot relating to elder crime and how easily one can be set up to become a scammer’s meal ticket. The story is interesting and educational and the culprit wasn’t easy for me to single out. Memories & Murder is a great addition to this long-running series!
I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Kensington. Thank you. This is an unbiased, honest review.
Series: A Tourist Trap Mystery – Book 10
Author: Lynn Cahoon
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Book Store/Coffee Shop
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Page Count: 202
Out now from Lyrical Press comes Lynn Cahoon’s 10th book in the “A Tourist Trap Mystery” series, Memories and Murder.
Jill adores her aunt Jackie and is almost heartbroken when her aunt calls off her engagement to Harrold. No one knows why Jackie calls it off, and she isn’t talking until a volunteer winds up dead. Jill suspects that her aunt’s odd behavior and the murder may be connected. Even though she tries not to get involved, she finds herself asking questions but getting few answers. As usual in this mystery series, Jill eventually starts putting clues together but can’t seem to find the missing piece that will allow her to reveal the killer.
The Tourist Trap Mystery series is one of the best written and ever-growing series on the market! Written by a writer who knows her audience and never loses sight of what makes this series hold readers’ attention. This book, like all of the others, is filled with wonderfully robust and exciting characters, a captivating plot, and a setting that makes readers want to pack their bags and move to South Cove.
Characters in this mystery series are constantly growing. They have and continue to evolve with rich emotional connections. They encompass everything that readers hope for in a cozy book and its characters. The victim is not well-liked by anyone except his girlfriend, and the killer is unexpected and might be a surprise for many readers.
I highly recommend Memories and Murder and the entire mystery series to readers. If you haven’t read any of these books, now is the perfect time to start! Readers will keep turning the page until the last word and will happily look forward to the next addition.
Coastal Oregon Cozy Mystery
This book is tenth in a series and stands alone very well. This author knows how to welcome new readers at any point in a series without making it repetitive for long-time fans. The plot moves quickly and is never slow or boring. There are many moving pieces that keep the reader’s interest until the final reveal. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.