ALC Review: She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke
Release date: 20 January 2025
Rating: 2-2.5/5
Narrator: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Narration Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: With a colorful cast of characters and a cellar full of wine, anything can happen―from murder to a second chance at love―in Jenny Elder Moke's half mystery, half romance adult debut set at a lavish destination wedding.
A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.
Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift. But when the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.
As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.
Review
Aaaand another adult debut falls flat for me. She Doesn't Have a Clue reads like YA with adult content, a common pattern I encounter when I read adult debuts by previously YA authors. I haven't read any of Moke's YA titles; they all released well after my love affair with YA ended, so I don't have any backlist comparisons to make in terms of writing style. I know I probably will not pick up any more titles from this author, as I didn't click well with the plot or characters in this one sampling.
I have put a number of romcom reads under my belt, despite my preference for fantasy, and Kate & Jake's love story didn't really stand out from the crowd. At the very least, I expected some cleverness from Kate in regard to the amateur detective work, but Marple Kate is not. She bumbles around, makes assertions without a basis in any kind of experiential intuition, and often finds herself making mistakes with her hypotheses. Usually, crackpot/amateur detectives, or even the best professionals, have some kind of endearing idiosyncrasy. Kate has—awkwardness. No specific type, either. Just a blanket, all-encompassing awkwardness.
One bright star in the story, Jake, shines through all the meh. He's a laid-back, romantic, and thoughtful lead who picks up the charisma slack from every other character. Jake is the only reason I continued through the book instead of DNF’ing. He brought an extraordinary comic relief to an incredibly uneasy story.
As for the overall plot, I usually peg the culprit in whodunnits early on, but for this one, I didn't invest enough in the story to expend any energy on figuring anything out. I didn't connect with any of the characters, the setting proved uninteresting to me, the mystery did not intrigue me, and I felt like a jet-lagged and exhausted guest trapped in an uncomfortable situation until I could get a ride out.
Moke's mystery had a tiny bit of a Christie feel to it, mostly similar to And Then There Were None, though I was a bit bored with Christie's story, it certainly wasn't because of the setting. Moke's setting juxtaposes a bit—a secluded Island with a a group of suspects who start dying off—at least there's an air of mystery to that. The story struggles mostly with trying to be both a romcom and a mystery without finding a good balance. Ultimately, the premise of going to an ex's wedding (all while maintaining a professional connection to said ex) served as a strong repellant for me.
Sarah Mollo-Christensen's voice matched the genre and really nailed the tone for this book. The character voices and accents, and there were divers and sundry of them, all had amazingly distinct personages. I've only heard a handful of narrators do this just as impressively. Great diction and wonderful voice personality made the book fly by in no time.
Overall, 5 stars for narration—Mollo-Christensen is a gem among narrators. I have to give the story a 2.5-3 stars. It looked like it would be fun, but I just felt uncomfortable with all the awkwardness oozing out of the whole thing. I think I may have walked around the whole time I listened with a semipermanent cringe on my face.
My thanks to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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