Rating: 3 out of 5.

Release date Jan. 20, 2026

This is a cute, cozy mystery with a sprinkle of romance. It has most of the same characters in the author’s previous book She Doesn’t Have a Clue but is it’s own standalone mystery. This book centers on ambitious Juliette Winters who is determined to save her struggling publishing company single-handedly by publishing a tell-all memoir from ruthless business magnate Warren Ellingham. Trouble is, he keeps putting off her request for pages from his book, and she’s losing patience.

Unfortunately, while at a party at his ultra-exclusive country club Pacific Pines, the subject of his tell-all, he dies of an apparent heart attack. Juliette scrambles to find his promised manuscript, only to find it’s been stolen. Juliette doesn’t believe the super healthy Ellingham died of a heart attack and believes he was killed by those who would be exposed by the book. She is determined to solve the mystery the police seem uninterested in solving.

Because Juliette isn’t a member of the club and needs to snoop around, she enlists the help of Dr. Charlie Hawkins, a doctor with a heart of gold but, according to Juliette, the personality of a wet rag. She’s even nicknamed him Dr. Dud. Along the way Juliette sees there’s much more to Charlie, including his rock-hard abs, but she can’t be distracted by that when she’s got a mystery to solve and her company to save. Juliette is used to working alone and not depending on anyone. Too bad Charlie and her co-workers and gal group refuse to let her do that and insist on helping.

This book has humor and lots of snark, making it a fun read. Some of Juliette’s one-liners cracked me up. Underneath her gruff and abrupt exterior, however, is a wounded girl that has been hurt by family and ridiculed by classmates, making her the woman she is today. I liked that Charlie and her friend group slowly start to peel away her hard candy coating to almost reach her squishy insides.

The book has plenty of action and tons of suspects who all seem to have one motive or another to kill Ellingham. The author has a lot of fun playing up the stereotypical affluent country club patron, so there are plenty of people to dislike in the book. Some more than others. Charlie’s ex and one of his medical school friends, in particular, are particularly heinous, as is Ellingham’s heir.

I took off one star because it seemed like the book went on forever. Perhaps that’s a product of listening to the book rather than reading it, because it seemed like just when Juliette figures out what happened, we find it’s another red herring and we’re starting all over again. I feel like there were a couple too many red herrings and firming up the main mystery would have helped tighten the book up and make it flow better. But that’s just me, others may not feel that way.

I received a complimentary audio from Macmillan Audio Early Listeners. All opinions are my own.