I was offered an advance copy of this book by the publisher. I’m not really a cozy mystery kind of guy, but I thought I’d take a look at it.
The main character is a TV news reporter who just wants to get the story. When one presents itself, she goes after it with dogged determination.
As a debut novel, this was quite a readable book. It moved well and kept my interest. Its cast of characters were all varied and unique. I like it when an author builds up the background and has memorable characters interacting with the main character. It makes the world more lived in and real.
There were two real issues I had with this book. Jolene Garcia starts off the book as nice and likeable. As the book progresses, to me, she became very much the opposite. She was too obsessed with getting the story. I understand that in the news game, the story is what matters, but I honestly stopped caring if she’d get the story or not.
The other issue I had was the way the mystery unfolded. Yes, she investigated. Yes, she put information together. For some reason, all of that didn’t feel like she was really investigating like a detective would in a typical mystery novel. I hope that makes sense. The whole mystery just seemed…off.
To sum it up, I liked the book and I’ll be interested to see what the author does with her next book.

This was a fun read that felt realistic given the professional background of the author. Jolene’s story gives readers the perfect “behind the scenes” look into what it takes to be an award-winning reporter, and I quickly needed to know what was going to happen next.

Jolene is a Phoenix reporter that would much rather chase the big stories, but with the need for social media development, her boss is on the reporting team about constantly having the next big thing to post for their viewers. Having been burnt once before, Jolene hesitates to put anything out to the media before it’s proven legit, but now she is falling behind with one of the biggest murder mysteries her area has seen. The one thing she has under her belt that no one else does? She was the last person to interview Larry Lemmon before his death. With Jolene’s determination, there is nothing she won’t do to solve this case and be the reporter to shine in the spotlight.

This book was not for me. First of all, trigger warning, animal abuse, hard no in any book.

I hate giving such a low rating but the main character was insufferable, it was the same thing over and over again. There was way too much Arizona history and too much description dedicated to settings and events that did not contribute to the actual story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the digital ARC of Off the Air. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an Advanced Read Copy of this book. I was expecting more mystery and less detail about news reporting practices. I might have enjoyed it more if I had connected with Jolene. I found her desperation for getting the scoop a little tedious.

When talk show host, Larry Lemmon, dies under suspicious circumstances, TV reporter, Jolene Garcia sets out to discover the truth. In this debut novel, Christina Estes, sets her story in Phoenix's highly competitive newsrooms. What a great cozy debut!

This book was not for me. It may be a case of judging a book by its cover but I'd been expecting a cozy mystery and I would not say that's what this is. There is a time and place for politics but it's generally not what I want in a light mystery but as the plot involves the murder of a right-wing conservative radio host it comes with the territory.

I never really connected with the main character and didn't enjoy the TV news workplace as much as I expected. Overall, I just wasn't the right audience for this book.

(Petty gripe: Do you know what a PIO is? Because I don't and I don't know that the acronym was ever explained and after it appeared multiple times I finally googled and discovered it stands for Public Information Officer.)

This book was fine. It wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. I was honestly really excited to read this book. A journalist investigating a murder sounds like something that would usually be right up my alley. Usually a mystery book just has to have a mystery I care about solving and a story that entertains me and I'll get so sucked in I finish the book in a day or two.

Some parts, particularly when things about journalism and Arizona history were explained, it felt a little bit like I was getting a lecture on something and I would kind of zone out part way through. Usually when I'm reading fiction I don't necessarily need everything explained to me unless it's super important to the plot. In general I'm okay with it just being "this is how it is" and I'll just kind of accept it. Especially when it's just general things about journalism that anyone who's watched tv or movies has a basic understanding of, I just don't really need to go deeper than what the author can assume I already know.

The mystery part of this book was also...fine? It wasn't bad but it felt similar to something that's been done on every police procedural show ever. Which again is fine when I'm half watching it for an hour. But if I'm investing 4ish hours of my life into reading a book I want something a little more unique...or at least interesting. But the mystery really wasn't bad it just felt a little bland and about 60% through the book I realized I didn't really care how it ended.

Overall the book was fine. I'm just not positive it was the right book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for my eARC of Off The Air!

This story follows a news reporter, Jolene, who is one of the first on the scene of a suspicious death. It happens to be Larry Lemmon, a talk show host, and Jolene was the one who had conducted his final news interview.

Jolene is dead set on getting this story of a lifetime by discovering what truly happened to Larry. I would classify this book as a cozy mystery- not a thriller.

This was an incredible, fast paced debut in my opinion, and I would recommend everyone give it a read!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity.

Jolene Garcia is a local reporter for a television station. The death of Larry Lemon, a controversial talk show host, has the reporters scrambling for the story. The competition among Jolene's peers is intense. Jolene investigates on her own using information provided by her sources and research.

I have mixed feelings about Off The Air. The positive: Interesting twists in this who-dun-it story, which I enjoyed. Estes sharing of local history was a wonderful bonus. Sharing the competition among reporters to be the
first/exclusive gave insight into why our news might be so erratic.

The negative: Disliked each and every character in this story, especially the protagonist, Jolene who I found to be selfish, unprofessional, and careless.

Overall, a read which held my interest enough to finish - with an interesting twist toward the end.

I really wanted to like this book, having grown up in Phoenix and recognizing a lot of the places and locations Estes wrote about, but it was written so badly that I just couldn’t. We did not need the history of so many places in AZ. We did not need the backstories of every character we came across. And if these did need to be included, Estes needs to learn to show not tell. It was just one big info dump. Not a book I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy of this book.

For this to be Christina Estes' debut book, it was really good. I had so much fun with this book and really had me hooked. It was a unique take to be following a murder from the POV of a reporter. It's the kind of story that allows the reader to try to solve the mystery along with the characters. I wouldn't say there's a major plot twist like other mystery books, but who did it was not given away until the very end.

There were some parts that I thought were unnecessary. Like I don't really think Oliver served a purpose. I thought he was going to be the killer and was wearing a wig in the surveillance video or something of that nature. I also think there was a disconnect about the dog phobia (but maybe there was just something I forgot). In some other parts, I just thought there was a lot of unnecessary detail, but that might just be me.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of mysteries!

This book was just okay. Kind of disjointed, didn't flow very well. And honestly, Jolene wasn't really that likeable. And virtually no character development, it was quite superficial. A quick read however.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

This one made me laugh! It was an unexpected read and not a category I’d usually pick up, but I enjoyed it for the most part!

This was a fun book, made more fun by all the references to Phoenix, which happens to be a city known to me. I enjoyed mostly the perspective of a news journalist striving to beat out the competition. I had no idea what that business was like before this book. The story solves a murder mystery, which just seems so natural from the TV journalist perspective. The book is lively, fast-paced, and suspenseful. A very fun read.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC.

Perfect for fans of R.G. Belsky, Off the Air offers a behind-the-scenes view on what a reporter/journalist's life is like. The details provided are intense - I had no idea what pressures a reporter faces every day. The character development was fantastic, the story moved quickly, and the mystery was very well done. I will definitely look for more by Christina Estes.

Jolene Gracia is a reporter in Phoenix. She covers general assignments and fluff pieces. One day she is to cover the death of a controversial radio host. As they get to the scene, Jolene realizes she was the last person to interview him, which gives her an advantage.
As the mystery heats up Jolene is determined to find out what happened and scooped up all the other reporters.
This is a debut novel which I could tell. If this becomes a series, I know the writer will be able to improve the stories – this will make this a good series. I enjoyed it.

Eeek! Glad I'm not a reporter! I couldn't handle the cut-throat, fast paced world! Thankfully Estes gives us a behind-the-scenes look at it through this story!

Chasing a story and trying to figure out a murder - I'm in!

Fun to read and kept me entertained throughout!

This wasn't as fun as I thought it would be after reading the synopsis. Let me start with the good things before I explain why this novel wasn't for me. The mystery was interesting, and I did care enough to find out who killed Larry. I also liked how much research Estes put into some of the information in the book, as she talks about it in her acknowledgments.

That being said, there is a good chunk of very detailed information about things that seem irrelevant to the story. Larry is intended to be an opinionated, right-wing talk show host, but this novel is way more political than it is a murder mystery. I don't mind reading about politics, but I think it was overdone. You can't tell if Jolene, or anyone besides the persons of interest for that matter, actually agrees or disagrees with Larry. There are also many paragraphs, sometimes even pages, of information that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Most of these stem from Jolene describing a character to us, but then the character is entirely irrelevant for the rest of the story. For me, this just made the story feel drawn out.

Jolene is hard to like. She only cares about integrity and morals when it benefits her. She's a terrible friend, neighbor, and coworker. She's rude to her elderly neighbor, even when Norma is trying to help her. Jolene badgers law enforcement during an investigation, chases people at a funeral, and throws someone's child support history in their face to get information. Yet, she wonders why she never gets the scoop and excuses her behavior with "they don't understand the pressure I'm under." Sadly, there's no character development, and her actions are forgiven without a real apology, and everyone calls her the star reporter.

I also had some issues with the story, and I can't decide if they were meant to be ambiguous. Larry's death from cyanide is confirmed, but they never check the cookies or tin for fingerprints or DNA. The timeline is confusing too. It's later revealed the cyanide wasn't in the cookies, but in his coffee. However, Larry drank coffee in the morning, but he died at noon. Cyanide works within minutes, it doesn't add up. Jolene gets mysterious packages, one with a note and audio recording, and another with photos of an environmentalist littering. The reason behind sending these is never explained. It feels random. Jolene's exclusive interview with Larry is built up, but it really isn't ever relevant in the story. Lastly, Oliver doesn't contribute much to the story, and I can't figure out why he was added.

Overall, I don't think this is a bad book, it just isn't my cup of tea. This is a debut novel, so I would definitely be open to reading something else from this author in the future. Estes can write, and the premise was interesting, I just think it needed some work.

Jolene Garcia, a Phoenix news reporter, gets wind of the death of a controversial radio station talk show host, Larry Lemmon. Soon, rumors fly that his death wasn’t accidental. Jolene works quickly to figure out the murder that could make her career or endanger her life.

This novel is a who-did-it but involving a scenario that isn’t typical to what I’ve read. I’m not familiar with animosity in the news/talk show reporting realm. So, story line was different and refreshing.

I also identified with the protagonist- Jolene. The struggle and competition in the work environment are real. I get that.

This is the first mystery I've read whose protagonist is a journalist. I read this in one sitting. The characters were well-portrayed and the plot plausible. Lots of red herrings and a delight to read.