A delightful and witty addition to the Jaine Austen series. The story blends humor, intrigue, and charming characters. The plot is well paced with red herrings and twists and turns and I was kept guessing. I love snarky Prozac!
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Murder Buys a One'Way Ticket by Laura Levine is the twentieth book in Jaine Austen Mystery series.

It is a quick, silly and enjoyable cozy mystery. It is written for entertainment purposes with a lot of humor thrown in, so it is a bit over the top but readers know what to expect from this series.
Jaine is still her likeable, funny and highly entertianing and amusing self. Prozac is the star of the show as always.
Side characters are bit exaggerated but very graphic.
The book is steady paced and easy to read.
Mystery was well done and nicely explained.
This series is in my opinion best described as humorous cozy mystery and it justifies that title.

This is book 20 in the Jaine Austen series and it looks like the end of a great cozy series. Janie is hired to write the biography of Chip Miller , The Iron Man. She and Prozac are invited to ride on his private rail car with his family for a weekend. It's perfect for starting the book. When he dies she becomes one of the prime suspects but then, everyone on the ride has motive to want hi dead.

Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket by Laura Levine is an exhilarating and cleverly crafted cozy mystery that takes readers on a thrilling ride! The story follows Jaine Austen, a sharp-witted amateur detective, who finds herself entangled in a murder case while on a trip that goes terribly awry. Levine’s writing is sharp and witty, blending humor with suspense seamlessly. The plot is fast-paced and full of unexpected twists, keeping you guessing until the very end. Jaine’s endearing personality and the well-developed characters add depth to the story. If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a touch of humor, a dash of adventure, and a strong, relatable protagonist, Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket is a must-read!

I LOVE Laura Levine! This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series to read. This one was funny, and quick and full of Jaime’s signature humor and sarcasm.

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is a series that never fails to make me laugh. It is not Jaine’s certifiable father nor her long suffering mother. It is not Lance her high maintenance neighbour. It is not even Jaine. Prozac, the kitty, cracks me up and this was no exception. This time Jaine has a writing gig that sounds too good to be true. Ghost write a fitness book and start on a private set of railway cars going first class all the way. What she does not realize going in is the guy is a raging and nasty megalomaniac whose vicious personality is about to be snuffed out.

There is no shortage of people this man has used and abused. They all had opportunity. Now whodunit?

Jaine’s romantic life might have also improved greatly. She discovers someone with who she shares a lot in common who is, by the way, drop dead gorgeous. Even Prozac approves. The only problem is Jaine is not sure if he might be the killer. She learns that identity the hard way and the killer is ready to murder her. The ending is highly satisfying especially for one member of the cast of characters as the epilogue proves. Lots of fun, lots of chortles and a quick and easy read. What more could you ask? Five purrs and two paws up.

While “Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket” by Laura Levine is reportedly the final installment in the Jaine Austen Mystery series, readers new to the series will be happy to know there are 20 books total to enjoy!

In this hilarious, fast-paced mystery, struggling freelance writer Jaine Austen gets what she hopes is a lucky break – she’s hired to ghostwrite a fitness book for Chip Miller, aka Iron Man, a wealthy gym chain owner. While Jaine might enjoy scoops of ice cream more than working out at the gym, she’s happy to have a project with a pretty hefty paycheck. And to kick off this new writing project, Chip invites Jaine to join his family and associates on an exclusive train ride from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. He even tells Jaine to bring her feisty cat Prozac along, too!

Once on board, Jaine quickly realizes that Chip is an egotistical tyrant, bullying all those around him, and as a result everyone on board seems to despise Chip. Readers won’t be surprised, then, when Chip is found murdered in his train cabin. Being the one to find Chip dead, Jaine becomes the number one suspect in the eyes of the police, so like any good sleuth, she must work to prove her innocence and find the guilty party.

What follows is 228 pages of pure fun, intermingled with a solid mystery. There are asides from Prozac the cat, and Jaine’s entertaining inner monologue that kept me chuckling as I turned the pages. Interspersed throughout the story are emails from Jaine’s parents about their life in their retirement community. I laughed out loud while reading those and wish we could have a story featuring her parents and their community because they sound like a hoot.

Readers looking for mysteries with some entertaining and zaney antics should pick up this latest entry into the series. It was a wild ride for Jaine and I loved being a part of it.

Jaine Austen and her cat Prozac are aboard a luxury train owned by a despised owner of a body builder exercise empire to ghost write his life story when he is murdered and she discovers the body. Everyone aboard has a motive; Jaine was on the hook for $25,000 for damage by her cat to a throw. Jaine needs to find the perpetrator to save herself; of course everything goes off the rails as she careens from suspect to suspect. Totally hilarious and far out. Love the cat. Humorous cozy heaven.

One of my favorite authors! This series is a great mystery/humorous read.
Janie Austin’s escapades with her cat Prozac are always a good read. Her friend Lance and parents all add to the humor.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Jaine Austen and her cat make me laugh every time I read another book in this series.
Her parents' emails just elevate the humor to another level.
The latest installment in the series does not disappoint.
Fans of this humorous mystery series will enjoy

According to the authors Facebook page this is the last in the series! Say it isn’t true! I’m sad. I love the wacky situations Jaine gets into. And the emails from her parents are the best.

Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket is the twentieth installment in the A Jaine Austen Mystery series featuring freelance writer Jaine Austen. Jaine finds herself hired to ghostwrite a fitness book for Chip Miller, the owner of the Fitness Factory.

Jaine and Prozac hop on board Chip's private train car for a trip from Los Angles to Santa Barbara. Chip treats his family and staff horribly and it's no wonder he winds up dead during the trip. With her DNA on the murder weapon, Jaine must work to clear her name. All while dealing with the crazy emails from her parents in Florida.

This addition to the series reminds you a little of Murder on the Orient Express, and for me the mystery was a flop with the series seeming to have run its course. The surprise ending wraps up the story of Jaine and Prozac, albeit a little abruptly.

I received an advanced copy of Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket from NetGalley via Kensington Books. While not required to write a review I am happy to offer my honest opinion.

Ok, first it’s a different story than the usual cozy. But I didn’t really like it. I found the constant focus on food to be annoying. Also there’s no real investigating just kind of bumbling around (food). It’s very shallow in the characters and setting. The only thing that felt real is Prozo, the cat. #MurderBuysaOne-WayTicket #NetGalley

Thank you, NetGalley and Kingston Books for this ARC.

Janie and Prozac are back for another adventure and I loved it! And of course, her parents' emails are back with their own adventures. This time her dad is driving her mom crazy because he believes he is related to Elvis!

Janie accepts a job to be a ghostwriter to a fitness guru and ends up regretting it when he is found murdered and she becomes the main suspect. Of course, Janie is going to find out who the real murderer is so that she doesn't end up in an orange jumpsuit and have to end prison food. Janie is such a foodie which can get her in trouble at times especially in this book.

I love it when Janie investigates a murder because she always finds herself in some interesting and funny situations. I laugh way more than I should when I'm reading a book about a murder. Our victim is not someone who is likeable so there are many suspects that Janie has to interview and each one has their own motive. I kept jumping from thinking it was one family member to thinking it was another. This was one dysfunctional family! I will admit that I didn't guess correctly as to who the murderer was, so i was caught off guard when I found out who it was. I kept thinking "how did I not see that?!" But it could be because I was too busy laughing.

This book also has Lance back and he needs Janie's assistance in order to get into an exclusive country club. Janie agrees which leads to a couple more funny situations. I love these two together and their friendship. They both come across as self centered but they really do care about each other. Love their friendship and really could see them in a sitcom together.

I'm not going to say much, but the ending?! I can't believe this book ended the way that it did. It took me by surprise and I love it! I can't wait to read the next one in this series!

UPDATE: I just found out that this one is the last one in the series. Ms. Levin is retiring, a well deserved retirement but her books will be missed.

One more thing, how can this series not be a movie already?! This is one funny series and deserves some screen time. I'd watch it!

Oh, how I will miss this series! I have loved following along as Jaine works to find her big break and her true love. I've enjoyed following along as she solves case after case with determination and humor. This one is no different with the wacky scenarios, the fascinating characters, the never-ending feud between her father and the HOA (the emails are my favorite part), and the lovable Prozac. I am sad to see it end but wish Laura Levine well in her retirement.

Jaine Austin and her cat Prozac are embroiled in a murder aboard a train. The usual highjinks ensue as Jaine tries to solve the murder. This one has a nice surprise ending!

I've been a horrible slump. It's a slump that was born out of equal parts work stress, a year so far where my average reads are in a dead heat with good and great reads (combined) and just not having the spoons to do much eyeball reading. Frankly though, this funk I've been in has started to annoy me, so I decided it was time to try pure, unadulterated brain candy. A book where I knew exactly what I was going to get, and as luck would have it, Murder Buys A One-Way Ticket by Laura Levine dropped in late June.
Spoilers Ahoy!

This is the 20th book in a series that started in the early 2000s and I would compare it to the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich on one very salient point - you're basically getting the same plot structure over and over again. There are just certain things I know are going to happen to our heroine, freelance writer, Jaine Austen, in each new book:

A dating disaster of epic proportions.
Jaine's various food obsessions (seriously, at this point I'm convinced she has an undiagnosed eating disorder and should work with a shrink about her comfort eating....)
Wacky hijinks her parents (OK, her father) get into in their Florida retirement community, relayed via email.
At least one mention of Jaine's favorite T-Shirt (Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!) and clothing with elastic waist bands.
Her fabulous gay neighbor, Lance, lamenting her wardrobe and roping her into some scheme that he's sure will help bag him Mr. Right.
Jaine's cat Prozac being the "owner" in their relationship.
But whereas I quit Stephanie Plum after Book 17 because of the main character being a flaming hypocrite and the super thin mysteries, Levine, for all the problematic faults in some of her books (broad humor is tricky, you either stick the landing or plummet to Earth like an anvil) never skimps on the mystery. There's always multiple suspects, with compelling motives (the victims are usually widely loathed), condensed in a short word count (usually around 230 pages). A lot of this can be explained by Levine's history as a sitcom writer. The mysteries keep me guessing and the books are snappy as hell.

This time out Jaine takes a ghostwriting job for Chip Miller, owner of a string of successful gyms looking to publish a Fitness For Dummies style book. Jaine is to join Chip and his entourage in a trip from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara by private railway. A veritable lap of luxury way to travel, except, of course, Chip turns out to be a tyrant. On board are family members, his fiancée', his right hand man / best pal in the gym enterprise, and the staff (specifically a waiter and a cook) who all hate his guts. So truly, it's not a huge surprise when Chip turns up dead, smothered to death in bed by one of his many "World's Greatest Dad" pillows. Naturally, the cops zero in on Jaine as possible suspect. To clear her good name she's going to once again turn amateur sleuth.

This is by far the strongest entry in the last several. The mystery is solid, there's a ton of suspects, all with compelling motives, and some of the broad humor that has annoyed me is tempered a wee bit. It's still there, but this time out Jaine's father's antics while still wacky as hell didn't hit me quite as wacky as some of the last few books. Lance, who I feel had turned snide and borderline vicious in the later entries, is positively mellow here. Heck, even Prozac isn't nearly as mean spirited. Is it still broad humor? Is it still following the well-trod path of each book that proceeded this one? Yes and yes. But it worked better here with this story than in the last handful of entries.

Finally, the ending. One word: wowzers! This would be why I put the Spoiler label at the start of this review. Folks, it's happened. Jaine finally gets a happy ending. I'm not sure what this means, but I see three possibilities:
This is the end of the line for the series. Jaine rides off into the sunset to live happily-ever-after.
The series will continue, but the author will take Jaine in a slightly new direction now that she has a romantic partner.
It all goes to hell between the end of this book and the start of the next book. Jaine's back to being single.
I truly hope #3 doesn't happen, because the happy ending is amusing and apropos for a character named Jaine Austen. Time, as they say, will tell. In the meantime, I'm not ready to declare the slump dead, but this book helped to at least give it flesh wound.

Final Grade = B

Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket is the 20th installment in the Jaine Austen mystery series. These would fall into the category of cozy mystery, and our admittedly light and fluffy, and silly. Sometimes laugh out loud, sometimes roll your eyes. It's a good pallet cleanser, a good summer read. And just as I was thinking I might have grown out of this series, they had to throw a curveball at the end with another literary name and a wedding. I guess I'm going to have to read the next one now lol.

Freelance writer Jaine Austen is glumly examining the alarmingly low levels of her bank account when she lands the opportunity to write, of all things, a fitness book. Since her preferred forms of exercise include shopping for ice cream and coddling her pet cat Prozac, she knows she has very few qualifications for this project – her excellent writing skills aside, of course.

Meeting with her prospective employer, Chip “Iron Man” Miller, proves to be quite the experience. The paycheck he’s offering is lucrative, but he has several questions that he needs her to answer before he can hire her:

QUOTE
“Where are your deltoids?”

(No idea.)

“Your pecs?”

(No idea.)

“Your triceps?”

(Still no idea.)

I fumphered some answers, all of them wrong.

(Just FYI, your deltoids are nowhere near your big toe.)

Finally, he asked me, “What’s your favorite machine at the gym?”

“The one that sells Snickers,” I confessed.

What the heck? By this point, I was certain I was never going to get the gig.

But, much to my surprise, Chip beamed.

“Perfect! You’re my target audience. If I can get somebody like you to write convincingly about the power of exercise, I can get anyone to try it.”
END QUOTE

Thrilled by the prospect of a twenty thousand dollar paycheck, Jaine gets ready to write. But first, her new employer wants her to join his family on a private rail trip down to Santa Barbara so she can learn more about his personal philosophy. Even better, Chip says she can bring Prozac with her, a boon given Prozac’s remarkable ability to scare off any and all cat sitters. With a personal chef on board and a delightful itinerary planned, this train ride looks like the perfect start for Jaine’s new project.

Alas, then, that things start going downhill fast. Chip’s family has little love for him, though at least his soignee fiancee Avery seems to enjoy his company. She looks to be the only one who does though, as he’s uniformly terrible to everyone there, guests and staff alike. Not even Jaine can escape his disproportionate wrath: when Prozac scratches up an expensive tapestry, Chip demands Jaine replace it, for a price much higher than her entire fee for writing his book.

So when Chip is found smothered to death in his cabin, there’s no shortage of suspects. Unfortunately for Jaine, the police seem to be focusing on her, as she was the one who discovered his body. Will she be able to clear her name by finding the real killer, while also helping out her best friend Lance in his quest for membership to the prestigious Empire Club and juggling her own complicated love life?

This last, especially, provides plenty of entertainment for readers as Jaine starts going out with Mario, the personal chef from Chip’s private train. While she takes the unexpected inclusion of his mother on their second date in stride, Mom has a far more adversarial attitude:

QUOTE
“Mom,” Mario said, “meet Jaine. Jaine, this is my mom, Nelly.”

The fireplug looked me up and down, distinctly unimpressed.

“Lovely to meet you, Nelly,” I said.

“Mrs. Fanelli to you,” she snapped in reply.

Then she turned to Mario, radiating disapproval.

“This is the girlfriend you were telling me about?”

Wait, what? He told his mom I was his girlfriend??

“Ptui!!” Mrs. F sniffed. “You can do better than her.”

“Mom!” Mario cried, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry,” he said, turning to me. “Mom didn’t mean it.”

“Of course I did!” Mrs. F insisted.
END QUOTE

Packed with snappy dialog and several hilarious – and occasionally scary – encounters, the twentieth installment of the Jaine Austen mystery series is another winning, witty read. Unlike Chip, Jaine has very strong, if still occasionally stressful, relationships with her loved ones, and those very much come to the fore in this novel. Jaine’s parents make their usual comic cameos via email, and series fans absolutely must stick around for their final missive at the end. It’s a wonderful development in Jaine’s life, and I’m super eager to read more of her hilarious adventures!

MURDER BUYS A ONE-WAY TICKET, written by Laura Levine, is the newest addition to the Jaine Austen mystery series. Jaine takes the job of ghostwriting a fitness guidebook for Chip Miller, the 63-year-old owner of The Muscle Factory. She accompanies Chip and other members of his family as they travel from LA to Santa Barbara aboard his private train. What follows is a fun adventure.


I immediately like the comic tone of the first-person narrative. Jaine Austen is a great protagonist. I also enjoy reading about the other characters who tag along from book to book (Lance, her parents, and Prozac-the-cat). The mystery itself is well-crafted. What a fun read! Thank you, Kensington Books and NetGalley, for the chance to read and review an ARC of MURDER BUYS A ONE-WAY TICKET.