Review; Life in the Dead Lane by Lucy Quinn

Title: Life in the Dead Lane

Author:  Lucy Quinn 
Publisher: Seaside Story Productions
Publishing Date:  September 13th, 2016

Pages: 228
Genre: Adult Cozy Mystery
Series:  Secret Seal Isle Mysteries #2

Source:  Audio

 

All Cookie James, FBI agent and Innkeeper extraordinaire, wants is a romantic date with her hot handy man… but what she gets is a corpse presented with a big red bow.

When she and Dylan discover a boat with a dead body, not only is her picnic ruined, but a woman from Dylan’s past returns to the island. The famous rock star appears to want a comeback tour with her former bodyguard. But Cookie doesn’t have time to worry about that, because her oh-so-sexy ex-FBI partner has arrived, too. And he’s ready to make a little music of his own.

With an entangled love life, too much manscaping, and a songbird in trouble, it’s once again Cookie’s job to wrap up another murder.

This is the second book in this small series I discovered this year on Audible.com. I enjoyed the first one, it was a good short fun read, I really liked this this one. I felt the characters were getting more developed, I was able to get more of a sense of who they were. I liked the mystery more. I got to know the town better. I really enjoyed the humor more in this installment. I feel like this series did get better with this book and I am in high hopes for what the next one brings. 

Cookie James is getting in trouble once more... she is on a date, on a boat, in the ocean, and what do her and her date find... a dead body. What luck. Now this time Cookie isn't a suspect but she is called in along with her ex partener by the town's police to investigate. I guess they realize they lack and need better investigators. At any rate Cookie and her ex partner, Hunter. Of course this complicates things with her crush,  Dylan. What complicates things even more. Hunter's ex is the sister of the dead body. Talk about a small world. Oh and she is famous and just about perfect.... which leaves Cookie feeling a little inadequate. But hey, at least she still has Hunter, the hot FBI man. Things are never easy and always a mess for Cookie. 

I am going to start buy saying I just enjoyed this book so much more than the first. I liked the first, it entertained me, I knew I would read the second to see where the series would go... but it was an alright cozy mystery. I have read some really good ones, so this one had a bit of time comparing.... that is until the second book. I am not sure what actually changed. I mean I know a few things... I was just so much more interested and entertained by this book. Which really makes me want to read the next one as soon  as I can. 

I feel that this book had more of everything. It had more humor. I found myself laughing more and rolling my eyes less. I felt the humor was better placed, less forced. I feel like the charcters were more. More developed, more layers, more fun. I was able to get more invested to the charcters. Better mystery. I just liked the story better in this one. I was very into the whodunit part and just wanted to read more. It was more exciting. I was more with the feelings and wonder of the what now. More romance... although this would be my only complaint. Even though there was more romance... I wish it was different. 

So my only complaint.. the romance. I like there to be romance but the love triangle... I didn't realize there was just as much in adult books as there are in YA... I mean I love the sexual tension and the chemistry and the love/hate relationships in cozy mysteries... that is part of the fun... but there doesn't have to be two guys all the time. We can have just one and still have the push and pull and the anticipation. The problem I have with love triangles... I like both guys... I don't want to see either of them get their heart broken. It also seems very unrealistic. I haven't really seen this happen in many girls lives. So I would be so much better if there was just one guy. I do have my favorite which is Hunter.. but I like Dylan too. I just like Hunter more. 

Just one more thing... .Cookie's mother! There needs to be more of her in the book. I love her, I adore her, I need more of her in my life. There was just a bit of her in this book and it's just not enough. So I hope there is more of Cookie's mother in next books. 

I really really liked. On the to the next one for more mystery, romance, and laughs! 

Lucy Quinn is the brainchild of New York Times bestselling author Deanna Chase and USA Today bestselling author Violet Vaughn. Having met over a decade ago in a lampwork bead forum, the pair were first what they like to call “show wives” as they traveled the country together, selling their handmade glass beads. So when they both started writing fiction, it seemed only natural for the two friends to pair up with their hilarious, laugh-out-loud, cozy mysteries. At least they think so. Now they travel the country, meeting up in various cities to plan each new Lucy Quinn book while giggling madly at themselves and the ridiculous situations they force on their characters. They very much hope you enjoy them as much as they do.

Deanna Chase, is a native Californian, transplanted to the slower paced lifestyle of southeastern Louisiana. When she isn’t writing, she is often goofing off with her husband in New Orleans, playing with her two shih tzu dogs, or making glass beads.

Violet Vaughn lives in coastal New Hampshire where she spends most mornings in the woods with her dogs, summer at the ocean, and winters skiing in the mountains of Maine.