What fun! Like a lot of us, Hayley has too much on her plate and drops the ball on a few (important) things. The chance to win $10000 in a shopping competition comes at an opportune time. I enjoyed reading the book and trying to figure out who the bad guy was. A good story and very enjoyable read.

I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. ( )

PLEASE NOTE: This review contains spoilers - a lot:

Hayley Powell writes a food and drink column for a local newspaper in Bar Harbor, Maine. It's winter, and her two children are visiting their father in Iowa for winter break. When she returns home from work one day, her garage roof collapses, crushing her car, and she also discovers that she has no heat due to her furnace breaking.

Up in arms over what to do, she packs up her dog Leroy and goes to stay with her brother Randy, who owns a bar. Randy's significant other, police chief Sergio, is visiting his family in South America, so he has plenty of room. But finding out she can't get a loan from him - cash poor - she turns to her mother, who also says no.

Just when she thinks there's no where else to go, she discovers that an extreme coupon show is coming to town and she sends them her sob story, hoping she'll be chosen - which will solve her money problems (for now, anyway). But then she discovers that the other person who might be chosen is Candace Culpepper, an old schoolmate who's as nasty as they come, and doesn't like Hayley.

She also finds out that her boyfriend Lex is having problems: his employer Edgar Hollingsworth has slipped into a coma, and no one knows if he'll survive. It doesn't help that Edgar's son Clark has returned and is barking orders like his father has already died, and everyone dislikes him.

Also, an elderly friend, Mrs. Tubbs, who is also neighbor to Candace has an accident and winds up in the hospital. She agrees to help her out, even caring for the woman's cat. But even finding out she's going to be on the show isn't going to help when she goes to Mrs. Tubbs' home and sees something in the snow - that something being the body of Candace. After her friend Mona was heard in Randy's bar making a remark about killing the woman, she's the main suspect.

With Sergio gone, Officer Donnie has taken over, and he has no idea what he's doing. He's basically standing still while Hayley runs the investigation (somewhat) and she needs to find a killer before Mona is convicted of the crime. Let the games begin...

SPOILERS AHEAD: READ NO FARTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!!!!!

This is the third book in the series, and by far the worst. Most people read to get away from daily problems, not have them follow you into a book. In the first few pages, Hayley's garage collapses and crushes her car; her furnace breaks; and she's forgotten to mail her car insurance so her policy was cancelled. The only saving grace is her kids are with their father for winter break so aren't around to suffer. So what does she do? She goes out drinking, because alcohol solves all problems, as everyone knows, right?

But let's not stop there: it seems her brother - who owns a bar and is living with the police chief, is also broke. I guess he gives a lot of free drinks, because most bars (nice ones, anyway) make money. Otherwise, why own it? It's a lot of work to not make a decent living. His partner Sergio must also make a piddling sum if he had to clean out their bank account to go on vacation - which brings up the question as to why did he go if it meant cleaning out the account? Priorities, people.

Bar Harbor must be the worst-paying city in America since no one seems to have any money. Honestly, I'm really tired of reading about Hayley struggling to make a living. She has 'victim' written all over her and is probably the most depressing protagonist I've ever read about. I guess I shouldn't wonder why I feel depressed after reading one of these books, but just be grateful I don't know her in real life. Why doesn't she send her resume to better-paying newspapers? Surely she'd be willing to move for tons more money? You can make a life anywhere if the pay is right.

Unfortunately, I also had a hard time believing Blueberry's behavior. He's a house cat, not a dog. They don't just randomly attack people and pee outside a litter box unless they feel threatened, are scared or have health problems. Did Mrs. Tubbs mistreat this cat so much that he reacted this way? Even Jackson Galaxy (look it up) would have a hard time believing this. House cats are not feral, and they don't act feral, but this cat acted like the bowels of Hell was after it. Why? There was no indication he should have acted this way and I don't buy the behavior. I've had cats my entire life and never had one act like this - not even feral cats I've fostered and adopted. This cat must have been beaten regularly by its owner - yet later in the book it calmly gets into Mrs. Tubbs's lap. Really? It hates every human but her? Not likely. The author must be an ailurophobe. Cats are just as loving as dogs, and don't attack for no reason. This part of the book bothered me the most.

Then there's the situation of Donnie: How did he get to be a police officer? Why would anyone hire someone this stupid? What cop would pick up a bagged murder weapon and take it out for personal use? (Perhaps he'll be the murder victim in the next book since he's Too Stupid To Live). Not to mention (but I will) that the time of death could have been two hours earlier if Candace was arguing with her sister at 8:30. MEs don't get that kind of thing wrong.

Then there's Lex, who is an ass. Who comes over to your house late at night, drunk, and tries to break your door down, and then you still want to date him? Doesn't Hayley realize he could act like this around her kids? But I guess to someone who drinks as much as she does, that this is an everyday occurrence. I also imagine everyone in the Hollingsworth household was brand new, because NONE of them had ever seen the real adult Clark, even though he was Edgar's SON! How much sense does that make? Was there no one who had worked there over ten years who would have seen him? Heard his voice? Yet Hayley was the only person who became suspicious (aside from the dead woman). Most people keep their employees forever - except this guy, apparently.

Sadly, the only thing these people remember to do is get drunk. I guess living in Maine in the winter, to quote a famous film line, "A man's got to do something to keep warm." There's drinking and then there's drinking. These people are drinking. A lot. ( )

Not a lot of physical description. It takes place in Bar Harbor, Maine, but really could take place in nearly any small, northern town. A lot of the attraction for me was the winter setting. It's there, it's not inconsequential to the story, but it's not totally believable either. Snow melts much too fast in this book. Also, there's the dreaded "wacky" friend (actually, two friends could be considered wacky). One wacky friend looks very much like a suspect, but is upset (as is the main character) that she's treated as a such. Oh, the main character's "columns" are almost too folksy to be believed. ( )

I was a little afraid to read a mystery book all about coupon clipping but I'm glad I did. The mystery was good and the coupon portion was kept to a minimum. ( )

I have a few friends here on GR who read the first book in this series and didn't like it but I found enough to like that I bought and read the second one - which I thought was quite good.

This one was NOT. I really did not enjoy this book at all. It took me forever to finish this one because I just didn't want to.

When I pick up a cozy, it's for entertainment, for escape. Something nice and light, maybe a bit of humour - nothing too 'real'. So when this book started with Hayley being beset by financial disasters, being so broke she has to beg her mom for money, her mom telling her 'no'; well, we're not off to a good light-hearted start are we? I realise the author is trying to set up the whole coupon-clipping-gameshow scenario, but she went about it in the most depressing, downtrodden way possible. Total turn off for me.

In addition to this, Lex, the love interest the author has been championing throughout the series, decides to go on a couple of benders through out the book and Hayley acts like this drunken, aggressive behaviour is a non-event. It's never discussed or even acknowledged - not even when he beats down her brother's door at night, falls down, and passes out on the floor. Really? I'm supposed to find this endearing????

I will give credit to the author for an excellently crafted plot - I did not see the villain of this story at all until the end. Also, the columns throughout the book are cute and entertaining, as well as a clever way to incorporate the recipes and cocktails into the story.

I'll consider the fourth one when it comes out - but this one is a definite black mark on the series so far. ( )