"In a fit of anger, radio DJ Jaye Jordan blows a snowman's head off with a Revolutionary War-style musket. But the corpse that tumbles out is all too human. Jaye thought life would be quieter when she left New York City and bought a tiny Vermont radio station. But now Edwin Anger-the ranting and raving radio talk show host who Jay recently fired-lies dead in the snow. And the Edwin Anger fans who protested his dismissal are sure she killed him ar her name, Jaye must find the real killer, as if she doesn't have her hands ...
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"In a fit of anger, radio DJ Jaye Jordan blows a snowman's head off with a Revolutionary War-style musket. But the corpse that tumbles out is all too human. Jaye thought life would be quieter when she left New York City and bought a tiny Vermont radio station. But now Edwin Anger-the ranting and raving radio talk show host who Jay recently fired-lies dead in the snow. And the Edwin Anger fans who protested his dismissal are sure she killed him ar her name, Jaye must find the real killer, as if she doesn't have her hands full running the radio station. DJing her all-request love song show, and shuttling tween daughter Ryan to and from school. It doesn't make matters easier that the governor-Jaye's old crush-arrived on the scene before the musket smoke cleared. Fortunately, Jaye has allies...if you count the flatunlent moose that lives in the transmitter shack and Neptune, the giant gray cat that lives at the station. If Jaye can turn the tables on the devious killer, she and the governor may get to make some sweet, sweet music together. But if she can't, she'll be off the air...permanently."--
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Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 304 p. A Vermont Radio Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Jaye Jordan has come home to take over the radio station where she got her start after a very tumultuous time. She and her husband have divorced following the survival of his cancer treatments. Their daughter Ryan spends the weekdays with Jaye and weekends with her dad, David.
Jaye has taken the station away from its talk format back to music and some of her listeners are not having it. In fact, they are staging a protest at the station. At the end of her rope, Jaye heads outside, grabs a Revolutionary style musket from one of the protesters, and turns and fires blowing the head off a 10-foot high snowman left over from the winter festival. As the rest of the snowman falls apart a body is discovered. Edwin Anger was a right-wing talk show host that had been fired by Jaye due to the new format and now people think she killed him and hid his body inside the snowman. She wants to clear her name but people convince her to leave the matter to the police.
As the police investigate someone turns up the dial and threatens Jaye and her daughter with everything from horrific graffiti to a pipe bomb. To bide her time Jaye spends more time rekindling a relationship with a man she had a huge crush on years ago. But the killer is not giving up and Jaye may find herself and her station down the tubes forever.
First, I am so thankful my cancer diagnosis and treatment did not destroy my marriage. My family was my rock. I was sad to see how easily Jaye and David's marriage fell apart and how easily they just got on with their lives. I think this is the reason I had a hard time connecting with these characters. I wish we would have had more of a backstory with them because I hope there was more drama and feelings that led up to what to me would be a major event but came off as a minor one in this story, especially because she converted to Judaism for this man.
Next, the writing style/dialogues gave me some issues. Jaye just seemed all over the place. Her station is her focus along with her daughter. Then you throw in her budding relationship with the governor, and spending time with her friends next door and sometimes this all seems to happen within one page of the story. In a normal cozy mystery, finding a killer would be in the mix too but Jaye seems to have a real lackadaisical attitude about the murder even when trouble comes knocking right at her door.
What I did like about the book was the strong relationship Jaye and David have with their daughter. They come together each Friday evening for the ritual of Shabbat. They have moved to be far enough apart to have their own lives but close enough to be available to her for anything that comes up. And they have good honest conversations with her about anything she asks. Jaye and David have a great co-parenting system and they are going to need it as this series continues and the murder drama ensues.
I do wish Jaye would have had a more active part in the murder investigation and the mystery would have been harder to solve. A complex mystery is always hard in the first book of a series because it takes pages to introduce the characters and the setting leaving less room to develop a complicated plotline. Vermont is a fabulous place for a cozy mystery to take place. And we do meet some unique characters in this story including a wonderful wild moose with a sweet tooth but I feel the characters could have been more fleshed out in this book to start the series. It is clear the author knows the radio business and it has been an important part of her life but I need her protagonist to be a more well-rounded character with a more serious nature when called for.
I do love the radio station theme and Live, Local, and Dead has good bones. I think it just needs a little tweaking going forward with the series. Ms. Knight has the humor and small-town setting right for a cozy mystery series. I do think the romantic scenes played too big of a part in the story taking over where the mystery should have played the leading role. I hope to see more character development and a more complicated mystery with the main character more involved as the series continues. This story does have a political slant due to the victim and the governor being involved and that may be off-putting to some readers as would the explicit language used. All in all, I am holding out hope that the second book in the series will fall more into the cozy realm I am used to because I do want to give these characters another chance. I am rounding up to 4 stars.
Kristina
Feb 13, 2022
An offbeat cozy mystery!
Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight is the debut of A Vermont Radio Mystery series. I liked the idea of a main character owning a radio station in a small Vermont town. I had a challenging time, though, reading Live, Local, and Dead. The writing style made it difficult to get into the story. The author dived into the story introducing us to a variety of people including the governor who just happened to be walking by when Jaye shot the head off a snowman. There are a number of quirky characters. I felt like I was missing a novella that had introduced us to Jaye and her daughter, Ryan. The characters felt flat since we do not get background information on most of them. The story is told in the first person in a rambling style. The sentences all seemed to run together (Jaye starts talking and just keeps going). It is hard to know what Jaye is talking about half the time (I re-read some sections multiple times trying to figure out what was going on). The topics change quickly. Jaye will mention a townsperson by name, and I would wonder who they were (she would just name drop and go on to the next topic). There was a lot of politics in this book. It was too much for a cozy mystery along with the significant amount of foul language. There is at least one bad word per page (I find it offensive and off putting). The mystery has a body being found inside the snowman (clever idea) and it happens to be the radio host that Jaye discontinued using at the station. Jaye becomes a suspect especially since she shot the head off the snowman. I thought Jaye would dive into the investigation, but she seemed more concerned with romance. The crime is solved with little help (I mean very, very little) from our DJ. I wanted to like Live, Local, and Dead but it is not a good fit for me. I did not like all the political insults, the foul language, and the focus on romance instead of the mystery. I also could not relate to the main character (nor did I like her), and I was not a fan of her musical selections. I could not believe Jaye fend candy to a wild moose (I know it is fiction, but she could have fed the moose something normal). Another negative was Jaye shooting the gun in the middle of the town (she picked up the gun not knowing if it was loaded or not). It was just the start of the silliness. This book was all over the place (lacked focus). I even wonder if it fits into the cozy category since Jaye does not investigate. Jaye would rather focus on restarting her life after her divorce (and she has the hots for a certain guy). Live, Local, and Dead was not a good fit for me, but it may be right up your alley. I suggest you obtain a sample to judge for yourself. Live, Local, and Dead is an offbeat cozy mystery with a moose with a sweet tooth, a headless snowman, a cold corpse, a gregarious governor, and a divorced DJ.
