She Doesn’t Have a Clue is Jenny Elder Moke’s adult debut. Scheduled to be released on January 21, 2025, readers are taken to a remote island in the Pacific Northwest for a wedding. Kate is a mystery writer attending the wedding of her book editor, who also happens to be her ex-fiance. When strange things start happening, Kate finds herself as the focus of the suspicion.
I want to thank Minotaur and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of She Doesn’t Have a Clue. However, all opinions expressed here are solely mine.
Synopsis from Goodreads
A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.
Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned, and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.
As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.
Positives
- There’s plenty of backstabbing from the Hempstead family.
- The setting is perfectly creepy and thrilling for a murder mystery.
Negatives
- The relationship between Kate and Jake is interesting, but their actions amid everything are questionable.
My Opinions
She Doesn’t Have a Clue is a murder mystery set on a remote private island during a severe storm. It feels like Moke tried to squeeze as many tropes as she could in her mystery. Remote location? Yup, it’s there. A severe storm? Obviously! Is someone sabotaging the electricity and water supply? Duh! A mystery or two on the island that has nothing to do with the central mystery? Yup, it’s there too. However, I love how that mystery is explained.
She Doesn’t Have a Clue is a romance set on a remote private island during a severe storm. It feels like Moke tried to squeeze as many tropes as she could in her romance. Second chance romance? Yeah, it’s there. Missed connections? Check! Forced proximity? I’m not sure. Does a twin bed in the attic count when there are two adults? Okay, then, yes, it’s there.
The Hempstead island in the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest sounds like a perfect setting for this tale. It’s several hours from the mainland, and a private ferry is the only way on and off the island. A dark and spooky forest on the island adds to the mysterious vibes.
At times, while reading the book, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh, cry, be scared, or be annoyed. Or maybe all four at the same time? I think I understand what Moke was aiming for. But I don’t think she succeeded. A rom-com and a cozy mystery are two things that are easy to mix. If She Doesn’t Have a Clue had been a rom-com with a touch of mystery or a cozy mystery with a touch of romance, it would have worked out better. But Moke tried to have the book be a 50/50 split.
Overall, I found She Doesn’t Have a Clue to be an okay read. I gave it 3.75 out of 5 stars. While I enjoyed it, it didn’t wow me. Reading sometimes felt like a chore, not the escape I hoped for.
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This book sounds like it was trying too hard to be too many things. I think the only times I’ve read books that combines rom coms and cozy mysteries, there was one that was the obvious focus, while the other was secondary. I think trying for a 50/50 split between the two would be too hard to pull off.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it more!
Exactly! Most cozy mysteries have some kind of romance, but it’s a minor part of the story. This was trying to be a 50/50 (or close to it) split. I wanted to like it so much.
Pam
Your thoughts on this book align perfectly with mine. I was expecting more cozy mystery, less romance, and definitely less spicy romance (that was an unwelcome surprise for me). If it had been billed as more romance, less mystery, I wouldn’t have picked it up. So, yeah, I also think Moke was just trying to cram way too much into one novel instead of figuring out what she really wanted it to be. Too bad, because I liked the sound of the book. I was disappointed that it wasn’t better.
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was disappointed with the book. And the steamy bits really took me out of the story. I actually skipped the second chapter of it all together.
Pam