Odessa Dean left behind her job at the Crawdad Shack in the tiny town of Piney Island, Louisiana, to head to the big apple. Why is she moving to Brooklyn from small town, Louisiana? Her Aunt Melanie is headed to Europe for several months and asked her to housesit (and catsit) in her Williamsburg apartment for free rent.

Odessa gets a job at Untapped Books & Café, a far cry from the local, fried seafood she was serving at the Crawdad Shack. Now she mostly serves hipsters their overpriced appetizers, craft beer, and whatever high-priced food item is trendy that week. Chef Parker Reed has a great talent and does his best to offer a range of food that is vegan, gluten-free, keto, pescatarian, and any other dietary preference you can think up.

Odessa is enjoying her job, but it’s been difficult to make friends in such a large and fast-paced city. It doesn’t help that Odessa is essentially a Brooklynaire due to her fancy, rent-free home, while most of her colleagues are struggling to afford places a fraction of the size. Odessa doesn’t have time to wallow in her own woes when her coworker Bethany asks her to take over her customers during the busiest time of the day.

Bethany is not just a waitress, she’s a youtuber who aspires to one day go viral for her artisanal soaps. Odessa happens to catch a viral video on YouTube that day. While it doesn’t feature any artisanal soaps, it does show a woman falling off the elevated pedestrian walkway in Domino Park in a recognizable neon green shirt—the uniform of Untapped Books & Café waitresses. Though the detective assures Odessa that Bethany’s death was an accident, she’s suspicious that something more nefarious happened to her colleague and sets out to prove it.

Odessa is a fun leading character—she’s sarcastic and relatable. Her coworkers are less-likable (at least at first). Her boss often asks her to do tasks that aren’t exactly in a waitressing job description, and her coworkers gossip about her behind her back (only she can hear them). A true Southern belle, Odessa continues to be nice to them despite their behavior.

And all of us non-hipsters can find some fun in the absurd and sometimes pretentious patrons and staff who would rather die than do something uncool (bad joke, given what happens to Bethany). I liked that Blacke reversed what would usually happen in a cozy mystery, where we’d see a woman leave behind New York City and move to a small town like Piney Island, Louisiana. Blacke has her heroine doing the opposite. This was such a fun change!

Odessa feels like all of her experience listening to true crime podcasts and scrolling the internet has given her all the skills she needs to help solve the mystery of what happened to Bethany. I wish the mystery had been more present in the story. There isn’t even a hint of a viable suspect or motive until about three-quarters of the way through the book.

As much as I loved Odessa, this did detract a bit from the “mystery” aspect of a cozy mystery. It did lead to a very character-driven mystery, as we learned much more about Odessa than the usual cozy lead. I also liked that she didn’t have a romance in this book—a trope that every cozy mystery peddles like their heroine can’t live a fulfilling life if she’s single.

Odessa is also funny, but she’s almost too nice sometimes (don’t get me started on the roommate situation with Izzy). That does feel authentic to a small town girl moving to NYC, but it made me doubt her credibility as a detective just a smidge.

Overall this is a fun start to a mystery series with some fresh takes on the genre. It was a bit light on the mystery for me, but an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this book incredibly interesting the author really kept me hooked until the end. very well written I highly recommend.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Fun murder mystery novel. Recommend

Ugh. I tried. I really did. But this writing just really didn’t work for me. I felt like the author wanted to explain every little detail of the world instead of just getting into the story. This was a miss for me and I definitely won’t be picking up book 2. Thank you netgalley for my free review copy.

Killer Content by Olivia Blacke is a fun cozy mystery. Odessa moves from small town Louisiana to Brooklyn to apartment sit for her aunt one summer and finds herself waitressing at a local bookstore/cafe. Although new to the group, she is hit hard when one of the other servers turns up dead. Unable to let Bethany’s death go as an accident, Odessa is determined to find out who killed her friend.

Cute characters but predictable storyline.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

I think I've finally realized that cozy mysteries just aren't my thing anymore. I used to love them, but I haven't read one lately that I've actually enjoyed. This one was no exception. It felt slow and I wasn't really engaged. I ultimately decided to DNF when I realized it felt like work to pick it up.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

A Cafe. A flash mob marriage proposal. A sudden death. What do you do when your coworker and friend abruptly leaves work saying it's a matter of life and death and ends up dead herself? You investigate of course!
This was such a cute entertaining cozy mystery! If the Cafe were an actual place, I'm pretty sure you would find me there. This was a quick and easy book to get through with some pretty quirky but fun characters. I absolutely love cozy mysteries, so this was right up my alley.  Odessa Dean was my favorite character in the book with her southern quirkiness. Thank you to Netgalley, Olivia Blacke and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book. If you enjoy a fun cozy mystery, this would be a good one to pick up. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me!

4 out of 5 stars - I'll tell you to read it, if you ask me

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this free copy. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

Book Summary:

Odessa Dean has recently come to Brooklyn to cat-sit for her aunt, where she got a job at Untapped Books & Café, a shop selling books and craft beers. While working a shift and covering for a coworker who snuck out quickly, Odessa hears about a death caught on camera during a flash-mob and going viral. While watching the video, she realizes that the death was her coworker. The police write it off as an accident, saying she fell off the overhead walkway, but Odessa doesn’t believe that. She is determined to take matters into her own hands and find the killer.

Review:

This book was a fun, relatively quick read. There were quirky characters throughout, and you couldn’t help but root for Odessa as she worked her way through the clues. I loved hearing about how Odessa was figuring out her way around the city, the personalities of her coworkers, and new friendships she made. I really hope there will be a second book and this turns into a series!

I was excited to see the debut of a new cozy series set in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn - an unique pivot from the traditional small town settings. With a snappy title and quirky urban setting, I was hoping for a witty read, but sadly this book just doesn't deliver. This book lacked the charm of a good cozy mystery - lowbrow snark and Gen X bashing only go so far. The main character of Odessa Dean comes across as rube, and not in a sweet, unaffected way, while overall is very thinly drawn. The author relies almost exclusively on telling vs. showing, and the mystery and sleuthing lacked the motivation, depth, and pacing to sustain my interest.

I received this book for free for review via netgalley. I'll be honest, I loved the beginning and I loved the end, but I felt the middle was all unnecessary fluff. There was so much unnecessary information in the middle that I ended up getting so bored and forget there was even a potential murder that occurred. I loved the way it was tied up in the end though. I'm not sure if this type of writing is for me though.

Killer Content by Olivia Blacke is the first book in the A Brooklyn Murder Mystery series and it's a cozy mystery series I didn't know I needed or that such a thing could exist. Odessa Dean is from Louisiana but she's cat and apartment setting for her aunt in Brooklyn and working at a used bookstore microbrewery (is that a thing in real life or just a book because I need that). When a murder mystery lands in her lap. A murder that even the police have ruled an accident. But Odessa's not so sure and she wants to make sure that her fellow waitress gets justice.



Even though this is a cozy mystery because of Odessa's age it read like a cozy mixed with a rom com without a lot of romance. It was the perfect pick me up book. That helped get me out of a reading slump and I loved Odessa quirks and sense of humor and I look forward to the next book in the series and anymore books by this author.






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I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

New York City can feel like its own country—its bustling city streets, its unique neighborhoods. In Killer Content, the first Brooklyn Murder Mystery by author Olivia Blacke, a sweet girl from the South shows up in the Big Apple and ends up caught up in a mystery...

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery

Odessa is up from the bayou in NYC to take care of her aunt’s cat and apartment. She finds a part time job working in an independent bookstore and cafe. One of her coworkers sneaks off during her shift to a local park, where she is murdered. Odessa barely knew her but can’t stop from investigating on her own when the local police call it an accident.
Goodreads

A millennial cozy mystery. I want to start off by saying that it’s about time! I love cozy mysteries and well, I am a millennial so this spoke to my murder, true crime obsessed mind perfectly.

It’s enjoyable, quick, and although I didn’t really connect with any of the characters I am hopeful for this as a series and I am eager to read more. There’s a love triangle as things are done in the cozy mystery world and cute quips and quirks. Sometimes it does feel just a bit too meta however? It’s a fun quick read for the summer though. Definitely a lounging on the beach thrill.

All in all, I enjoyed myself and I hope we see more of Odessa.

Thanks very much to the publisher and netgalley for my ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I know I am in the minority but I did not like this book. I DNF around 30%. The main character couldn't stop telling us she was from a small town/implant to Brooklyn, and that got annoying QUICK. She was described as quirky, but I just found her annoying and whiny. She also seemed like a crap waitress yet it was never her fault. This also wasn't believable. The whole "I've listened to podcasts so now I'm going to low-key solve murders" trope is overplayed and, to be honest, doesn't need ANOTHER offering.


I received an advance copy; all thoughts are my own.

I love a good mystery, but this one wasn’t really for me. It took me a bit to get into the book and then just kept putting it down. I did really like to scenically written aspect of the city and the cafe food, yum. Odessa was a quirky sweet character. I did want a little more mystery so it didn’t really live up to the mystery aspect of cozy mystery it’s promotes. But it was enjoyable because of the main character. I also really did like the cover, it’s what attracted me to the book.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Berkley for this eBook ARC in exchange for my honest review

I love how fresh this cozy felt—like the genre is appealing to a new generation of mystery readers. Very compelling and very needed.

This book was such good fun!!! Yes, it included a murder but... watching Louisiana girl Odessa Dean try to fit in with the hipster crowd in Williamsburg, Brooklyn while trying to solve the murder of a co-worker/sorta friend was pure fun! Odessa is funny, witty, charming, and utterly self-effacing. She goofs and she's not afraid to goof or admit that she goofed. She's just herself, and that's so much fun to see.

I suppose KILLER CONTENT could be classed as a cozy mystery, except Olivia Blacke has put a twist on the idea of 'cozy' and while it's set in a bookshop, the bookshop doesn't double as a coffee shop or a bakery as most cozy mysteries do. It doubles as a hipster cafe and hub for microbreweries. That makes everything a bit more edgy and modern, compared to the usual formula for cozy mysteries. The best subtle part of the comparison is that Odessa's tiny hometown in Louisiana is probably exactly where a normal cozy mystery would be set.

A third thing that's special and different about KILLER CONTENT is that Odessa is not looking for love and she does not find it. No falling for vegan, gluten-free hipster or sexy cops. Just Odessa being Odessa, and figuring out that it's just fine to be Odessa. It's so sweet when she gets excited that people like her for her, when she makes true friends when she felt so cut off.

This is book one in a series and I cannot wait for book two!

Thanks to NetGalley, Berkley, and the author for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.