Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Fishing for Trouble (An Alaskan Diner Mystery) by Elizabeth Logan. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Something fishy is going on at a local seafood processing plant, and Charlie Cooke is on the hook to solve the case in this new Alaskan Diner Mystery.
Fishing for Trouble (An Alaskan Diner Mystery)
by Elizabeth Logan
I received this book free; however, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive compensation at no cost to you.
Fishing for Trouble (An Alaskan Diner Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Berkley (November 24, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Summer has come to Elkview, Alaska, bringing twenty hours of sunlight every day, not to mention a surge of tourists and seasonal workers. Chef Charlie Cooke is eager for a busy yet relaxing season, but when a young man working a summer job at the local fish processing plant dies moments after walking into the Bear Claw Diner, she’s quickly swept into the investigation.
Soon, through her best friend Annie Jensen, Charlie learns that another student worker at J and M Processing has disappeared, leaving more questions and fewer answers. The near-endless sunlight gives plenty of time to search for clues, but Charlie will have to work with Annie and local reporter Chris Doucette to net the killer before anyone else gets hurt.
My review of Fishing for Trouble
Fishing for Trouble is a wonderful follow up to Mousse and Murder, the first book in An Alaskan Diner Mystery series. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know about my obsession with Alaska! It’s like the last great frontier right? That pioneer spirit of my ancestors calls to me and tries to trick me into believing that living in Alaska would be life-changing. Sure it would, ancestors. I’d probably get eaten by a grizzly or lose a toe to frostbite! (Yes, I’m dramatic. I even have the t-shirt…) But, seriously, I know that it is a beautiful state with a lot of brave and adventurous people. It’s the perfect setting for this series!
Charlie’s diner, given to her by her mom, is a popular place. The food is amazing, and tour groups, after having stayed at Charlie’s BFF Annie’s inn, often eat there on the way to their adventures. Unfortunately for Charlie, a group of college students working at a fish processing plant decide to eat there when one of them falls over dead. Thankfully, they hadn’t even gotten their food, so Charlie knows it’s not food poisoning. But through circumstances beyond her control, Charlie’s caught up in another murder. Yes, murder! Though the young man didn’t die of food poisoning, he was murdered.
The author does such a remarkable job of laying out clues throughout Fishing for Trouble. I think a good cozy mystery book is one in which you can pick up on all of the clues yet still be mostly clueless as to who the murderer is. This one fits that criteria very well.
As in Mousse and Murder, I absolutely love these characters. The recurring characters feel like they’re my old friends. I could walk into the diner, order the special, and catch up on the latest gossip. The camaraderie among the characters is evident in Fishing for Trouble even more so than in the first book….which is as it should be. These characters are well-developed, and I love being able to gain more insight with each book. I’m already excited for book 3!
Fishing for Trouble is such an entertaining book. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the mystery, the characters, the cats, and of course, the setting! Wishing you had a bear claw while you’re reading is inevitable. You might want to pick some up before you start reading! I highly recommend both books in An Alaskan Diner Mystery series.
Guest Post: Different Strokes
In our family room my husband is relaxed, watching a rom-com about a beautiful cupcake baker in a small town where no one needs to lock her door and all the parked cars have keys in the ignition. A thief’s paradise, yet the crime rate is barely above 0, and that non-0 statistic is only because sweet old Mr. C is becoming forgetful and has taken to walking off with packs of gum from Uncle Al’s general store. Outside, on the sidewalk, everyone smiles and greets all the passersby by name. Of course they all know each other’s favorite cupcake.
In the living room, I’m sitting in front of another large flat screen. Mine is bigger, which I like, but his has better resolution which, as an engineer, he needs. I’m happy, but not exactly relaxed. My entire body is focused on a rerun of a Dexter episode, his knife-wielding arm raised above his latest victim, who is strapped to a table. Well, not an innocent victim since the guy on the table is, like Dexter, also a serial killer. Serial killers are second only to hit men on my wish list. Third would be fixers like Ray Donovan, who do a little of everything.
If my spouse does join me in a crime drama, it has to be bloodless, like the rom-com above, but with a body, a very clean body, seen from a distance. All the violence will be off camera. And no punches to the face or gut, please.
In other words, he likes cozies; I like grit.
We’re talking about television and not books, only because the issue comes up when it’s together time. The different preferences remain the same for books. He’ll pick up a Monk; I’ll go for Nordic Noir. It’s not like we have to agree on a page.
Here’s just a taste of breakfast conversation as we debate the merits or not of the two ends of the “violence/no violence” spectrum.
Him: That gritty portrayal glorifies violence.
Me: That cozy script makes light of violence.
You’d never know we were talking about murder in both cases, albeit fictional.
Him: I don’t want to be reminded about real evil. My programs are more about the puzzle, figuring out the clues.
Me: My choices are more realistic, more of a deterrent to the viewer.
And so on.
I can’t really argue about his preference for cozies. After all, I’ve written almost 30 of them, give or take.
I’ve taken on “evil” in my writing, but only in short pieces, closer to flash fiction. The truth is, I can’t stay very long in the minds and souls of the likes of Hannibal Lechter, or Tom Ripley, or “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes.
Instead of constantly echoing debates past, we’ve reached an agreement. I’ll give the channel famous for bloodless mysteries a shot, but if I can’t stand it after twenty minutes, I’m free to leave, with no repercussions or criticisms on either side. Similarly for him. As soon as a scene shifts to the coroner’s lab, or slab, he leaves for the kitchen, brings me back a bowl of ice cream and keeps walking.
Win win.
Thanks for this guest post! I’m on both of your sides; it just depends upon my mood! I’ll take some ice cream too please!
About Elizabeth Logan
Camille Minichino is turning every aspect of her life into a mystery series. A retired physicist, she’s the author of 28 mystery novels in 5 series, with different pen names. Her next book is “Mousse and Murder,” May 2020, by Elizabeth Logan. She’s also written many short stories and articles. She teaches science at Golden Gate U. in San Francisco and writing workshops around the SF Bay Area. Details are at www.minichino.com.
Author Links
Website – http://www.minichino.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/camille.minichino
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/160580.Camille_Minichino
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo– IndieBound
Enter the giveaway ended
Fishing for Trouble Tour Participants
November 24
Reading Reality – REVIEW
Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 25
I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
November 26
Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 27
Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT WITH RECIPE
I Read What You Write -SPOTLIGHT
November 28
My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 29
Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
November 30
Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
Moonlight Rendezvous – REVIEW, GUEST POST
December 1
Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST
December 2
Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, GUEST POST
December 3
Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST
Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
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Thanks for hosting, Christy and for taking the time to talk about this series! Also for letting me talk about the cozy vs. noncozy issue. What would we do without blogs like yours to share our thoughts and our characters’ lives! I like your “mood” comment, and I, too, have been known to dip into many subgenres!
Hoping you and all your readers stay safe this holiday season.
You’re welcome! Thank you so much or stopping! Have a wonderful holiday season!
It looks like a good read.
I do love cozies. Having an Alaskan setting and a diner makes this fishing story more intriguing. I want to find out “who done it.” Yet I figure there will be several red herrings or other kind of fishy business.
Alaska One place I have always wanted to go…………… BUT I would freeze to death there 🙂 So I have to settle for reading about it and this sounds very intersting