Fiction, Cozy Mystery

3***

Blurb: Tina Bender is the gossip columnist at the infamous L.A. Informer tabloid. She knows everything about everyone who’s anyone. And she’s not afraid to print it. That is, until she receives a threatening note, promising, “If you don’t stop writing about me, you’re dead.” Teaming with a built bodyguard, a bubbly blonde, and an alcoholic obituary writer, Tina sets out to uncover just which juicy piece of Hollywood gossip is worth killing over.

THOUGHTS: This started out fun with great characters that sometimes made me laugh–or wince. Tina is a gossip column writer for a Hollywood paper. She has a lot of “friends” (i.e. informants) and a lot of enemies. When she gets a death threat, the paper hires a bodyguard for her. One she doesn’t want–but the guy is a hunk, so maybe she can deal. And she lives with her elderly aunt who is a bit…challenging. And an elderly neighbor who complains a lot. When her neighbor is killed in Tina’s home, things get real for Tina.

The storyline was decent, the characters really fun, and the ending really good. But…the spelling, grammatical, timeline issues in the book really stopped me cold more than a few times. And that’s what cut the number of stars. I was tempted to give it a 2, but I really did like the ending, though I will say it was a total surprise because we weren’t given any idea of this possibility early in the story.

Recommended with reservations.