Someone's trying to frame Hurley, from killing his ex-girlfriend to burning down David's house with Hurley's gas can to attempting to abduct Mattie. But who and why? Under suspicion, Hurley goes on the run and enlists Mattie's help in figuring out who's behind it all.

Good, but not great. I didn't devour this one like I did the other books in the series. I can't put my finger on why, some momentum was lost after the second book. But there was a lot to like in this one, from more background on Hurley (who is the series's least developed character, IMHO) to the old detective Bob (the gym scene made me laugh out loud!) to the great plot with a surprising twist at the end, there's no way I ever saw that coming. Although enjoyable, I found myself putting it aside in favor of other books more than once.

Heh. Poor Mattie doesn't have an easy time of it, does she?

During a blind date with the OCD William-not-Bill, Mattie is called out on a dead body call. Shannon Tolliver was found dead in her front yard, amongst the Halloween decorations. When Shannon's estranged husband Erik is arrested, Mattie knows he's not the killer, so the real question is: who killed Shannon and why?

This was a great followup to the first book; thoroughly entertaining and completely engrossing, it was full of hilarious cringe moments (I laughed out loud through the whole scene when they were recovering the rich couple!) lots of intrigue and one creepy suspect (am I the only one who thought he was creepy at the get-go?) The main plot, Shannon's murder, leads Mattie far and wide in her search for suspects, uncovering quite a few and introducing a few new characters I hope to see more of (the gay bar scene? Loved it!)

Just one thing, I've got a Dropped Thread Alert!

Overall, an excellent second in this series and it made me excited to read more.

Scared Stiff

by Annelise Ryan
Book 2 of Mattie Winston Mystery

This second installment of the cozy Mattie Winston Mystery was, somehow, not as great as the first one, Working Stiff.  I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm half wondering if it has to do with how obsessed Mattie is with Detective Steve Hurley.  We barely got into the book before every other thought flitting through her mind had to do with either impressing Hurley, getting his attention, or running her "love rival" Allison the reporter over with a bus... or something.

Of course, those were mere portions of the book and not all of it, so I'm not entirely letting it influence my like or dislike of Scared Stiff.

Because aside from the frustrating romance parts in this book, the rest was pretty good and entertaining.  The murder mystery was done well and had me guessing, though it was pretty obvious who didn't do it; the twist it took was a bit strange, yes, but I can see it falling together properly.  The forensics aspects, with the autopsy, crime scene evidence collection, etcetera, are always awesome to see.  Even a little bit of Mattie's own investigations were pretty promising as well now that she's learned to keep her knowledge to herself--if she continued to go around telling everyone all the sordid details of each crime while trying to conduct interviews, I'm not sure how well that would pan out for her career in the medico-legal field.

The klutzy Mattie trope is still in effect, I see, although this time around, some of the antics were actually quite humorous, even if half the time it wasn't really her fault.  It's not like she intentionally fell down the hill side, causing ripped scrubs, a crotch vent, and mud on her behind.  Although her penchant for getting the murder victims'... stuff... all over her made me grimace really hard.

I still feel it would be nice to tone down the "How many ways can be embarrass Mattie Winston on the job?" trope, though.  Once or twice in one book is funny.  Every other scene can get a little old.

We get a new addition to Mattie's little refuge in the cottage behind her best friend, Izzy's house, in the form of an abandoned pup to add onto the abandoned kitten she picked up from the first book.  I'd like to focus on them a bit more too, but aside from Mattie's penchant for picking up strays, they don't seem to play a very big role in the story itself.

Finally, back to the love interest, Steve Hurley... I'm still not very enamored of him.  He doesn't stand out, and at times kind of comes off as a carbon copy male lead jackass.  I DO like that he gets so petty and jealous rather than acting like he doesn't even notice when Mattie's being seduced by other men... but at the same time, he acts like a dick.  And this also all plays into Mattie's frustratingly one-tracked focus on Hurley and what she can do to win his favor.

Anyway...

I will probably continue on with the next book in the series, but I'm not entirely in a hurry to do so.  It's entertaining and I really like Mattie.  In spite of her klutzy personality trait, she's resourceful and skilled and really knows what she's doing when it matters.

I'm hoping for a better turn for her romance, but I've noticed that the love stories in cozy mysteries aren't always that great.  Granted, they are cozy mysteries and romance isn't exactly the focus.  I've read a good one before, but I'm not too excited about how Mattie's love life is turning out so far.  It almost seems too... unnecessary, actually.

And also, again, I'm really digging Izzy as the mentor slash best friend role in Mattie's life.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• 2016 Halloween Bingo

Working Stiff

by Annelise Ryan
Book 1 of Mattie Winston Mystery

This is a cute and fun start to a potentially winning cozy mystery series.  There are still some things about the characters and the story that fell short, but all-in-all, I very much enjoyed myself.  In fact, I had my heart set on reading a different book and finishing it before moving onto Working Stiff, but as soon as I started reading this one, I couldn't stop.

Mattie is a funny, readily related to main character with her clumsy foibles and her wild imaginations.  She is very real, very down-to-earth, and absolutely NOT perfect.  She is also quick on her feet and resourceful.  Though if I had to nitpick anything about her, it would be her one-tracked obsession with Detective Steve Hurley.

She has another flaw, which I can totally forgive her for if only because she's new at her job and kind of got hoisted into it by her best friend.  She kind of sucks at the investigating thing, because her tact at questioning people tend toward the "let's just give them the entire story and see what they know."  Which, if you've read enough crime thrillers, law enforcement officers hold back a lot of vital information when they interview people for very significant reasons.  You don't want to give away anything that could potentially screw up an investigation by either tipping off the culprit, or creating a copy cat to muck things up.

But Mattie seems to be find just handing over every bit of information she has to anyone she talks to.  She's going to have to learn discretion, really...

So hopefully, in the next few books to come, Mattie will get more training and pick up a feel for doing her job a bit better.

Except for the fact that she's not a detective and it makes me a bit nervous that she decided to take on investigating this case personally.

Her need to show up Detective Hurley by solving the murder case before he did was a bit childish, because so many things could go wrong.  And seeing as how she's not a trained professional in law enforcement, in real life, this could have opened up a whole can of worms for throwing evidence out of court.  But this ties in with her obsession with Detective Hurley, which was cute at first, but turned into a really badly handled passive-aggressive cat fight between her and any other woman showing the least bit of interest in him.

It makes me cringe a little.  As realistic as the situation is, it bugged me a little bit that she was more concerned about looking good in front of the detective than anything else.  I mean, there's more to life than romance and men, and while I am a devoted romance reader, I tend to get a little irritated when the main character's thoughts keep coming back to her love interest at the most inappropriate moments.

Especially when said love interest really has nothing going for him aside from being a good-looking man.  Because, really, Steve Hurley was no different than any other "love interest of the week" out there.  And until he proves to be anything different than just another good-looking man, I'm really not that interested.

On the other hand, I'm really digging the mentor-apprentice relationship between Mattie and Izzy.  I love all the technical forensic lingo and all the little details that Mattie is learning about as she steps into her new position of deputy coroner.

The few really dark, sad parts of the book near the end is what really made me cement this as a series I will continue to read.  And I'm not saying this because I'm sadistic or anything.  It brings out a different, more serious side of Mattie to balance out that wacky, trouble-making side of her that is probably inserted into the character bio as a point of comedic relief.

Because that particular character trait is just always part of so many main characters in some of the cozies I've read to date, and it really DOES get old.  It's not always cute for your main female character to be klutzy or to generally bumble into things and screw shit up.  Yes.  I DO enjoy the occasional, endearing troublemaker, because goodness knows I don't get along with Mary Sues either.  But to make it a consistent, running gag can really rankle; especially if it's done on purpose just to make the main character seem cute.  Or to make the perfect love interest seem even more perfect.  Or to give said perfect love interest a reason to swoop in and save the day.

But anyway, enough of that...

Working Stiff really is an entertaining and enjoyable first book in this series, and I definitely look forward to reading more, with hopes of seeing some progressive development from Mattie, now that she can start a new chapter in her life.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge
• COYER Summer Vacation 2016

I wasn't sure about this book at first - I don't really find a Medical Examiner/Coroner's job a very interesting one.  But I was running low on reading material and starting to panic.

Not a bad start to a series. Interesting blend of humour and drama.  Most of the humor is of the slapstick variety and almost always at Mattie's expense.  I hate to even use these most over used words in cozy mysterydom but those humorous moments were a bit Stephanie Plum-ish.  There.  But that doesn't mean "Stephanie Plum move over"!!!  I'm just saying the type of humor in these scenes is similar.

All the characters are interesting and likeable and the murder mystery was well done.  That's more than enough for me to read the next one.