Killer Transaction

(Copy provided to The Kindle Book Review.)



From Goodreads:

“Real estate deals can be murder.

All struggling real estate agent Cindy York wants is the home listing that was promised to her. But her deceitful co-worker, Tiffany Roberts, has other ideas, and she always manages to get what she wants. Tired of being manipulated, Cindy tells her to back off—or else! But when Cindy stumbles upon Tiffany’s lifeless body, she suddenly finds herself front and center in a deadly investigation. Now everyone from her kids' classmates to her monstrous mother-in-law is sold on the idea that Cindy's guilty. Determined to find out who's trying to frame her, Cindy enlists the help of her best buddy, Jacques, to negotiate a slew of suspects, a host of clues, and an office full of cutthroat agents...before the next contract is out on her!”


~~~~~ With most cozy mysteries, I expect to enjoy the book, but not get pulled in quite the way I was with Killer Transaction. The mystery itself was generic--who killed the hateful person?--but the whodunit portion was twistier than I expected, making this a pleasure to read. Ms. Bruns is an excellent writer--her style was definitely to get out of the way and let this reader enjoy the experience. And, bless her heart, when Cindy got herself into a spot of trouble, it was completely explainable, instead of feeling contrived or springing from an inexplicable act of complete stupidity. I'd love to have a little more depth to the main character--a lot of the time it felt like she was reacting to events instead of acting upon them--but I did like that she had a little PTSD to deal with herself. It lent a lot of reality to Cindy's character. I'd recommend Killer Transaction as one of those books to take to the beach or curl up with by the fire for an afternoon of easy reading.


Gentle Reader Alert: A few PG-level swears, but nothing my grandmother didn't say when she was upset with the grandkids....