This cozy mystery, set on a secluded island near Seattle, was a delightful read. The protagonist, Kate Valentine, is a bestselling author often caught up in imagining what her fictional heroine, Loretta Starling, would do. While attending the wedding of her ex-fiancé—who also happens to be her editor—Kate finds herself reunited with her biggest regret, Jake. The story skillfully weaves together elements of mystery, suspense, and romance, all against the backdrop of an opulent setting that takes a dark turn when the group becomes stranded.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

SHE DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE is part romance and part amateur sleuthing in this wonderfully entertaining cozy mystery. Moke’s has the ability to engage her readers with a bumbling murder investigation while still allowing a little spice to heat up the pages.

I loved this book. Kate is a wonderfully realistic and relatable character. Her wit, candor, and insecurities allow the reader to connect with her as she stumbles into this situation. And then there is Jake. Jake is the exact partner in crime-solving you want for a writer who is morphing into a budding investigator. Their chemistry is palpable, and how they feed off each other gives the banter I want in a duo like this.

From the beginning to the end, this was a delightfully intriguing read with a few twists and turns along the way. Jenny Elder Moke crafted a perfect mix of mystery and romance. It had just enough tension to keep my J.B. Fletcher brain working on the who-dun-it while I was swooning for the leading man. I cannot wait to see what the author gives us next.

Audiobook Note:Truth be told, I listened to most of this book. Sarah Mollo-Christensen, the narrator, did a wonderful job of bringing the characters and story to life. It had just the right pace, and the varied inflections from character to character were spot on.

She Doesn’t Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke is a great combination of romcom and cozy mystery.

Our main lady of the read is best-selling author of murder mysteries named Kate. She has herself in a precarious position of attending her ex-fiancé destination wedding. The event take place on a beautiful private island over the course of three days. The awkwardness of the situation just intensifies as a major storm hits, there’s a murder and yet another attempted murder. This is one of those situations where if anything could happen it happened and then some more. Kate is a writer and tries to get into the head of her character to help figure out the Whodunnit of this tale.


Jenny Elder Moke delivers a solid and entertaining tale with She Doesn’t Have a Clue. It is a good mystery with lots of clues, red herrings, and twists that you don’t see coming. You have a romantic comedy element in the book which I personally very much enjoyed. I very much enjoyed the interactions between Kate and Jake. She has created a wonderful cast of characters who are funny and entertaining. I don’t know if there are plans for this to become a series however, I interpreted things from the epilogue to believe that they’re just may be.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I read a spicy rom-com murder mystery, and especially one that works so well on all its genre levels! Sexy, sweet and suspenseful, She Doesn’t Have A Clue is a delight from start to finish.

It helps a lot that our heroine, bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, is fully aware that she’s not very good at things like communicating her feelings or, as she terms it, being normal. In times of stress, she has the habit of slipping into the viewpoint of her own series’ heroine, Loretta Starling, a badass Florida Keys bartender and amateur sleuth caught in a love triangle between her bar owner boss Geoff and British wakeboarder Blake. Loretta always knows what to do, even when her creator is feeling entirely helpless and hopeless:

QUOTE
What was wrong with Kate? The harder she asked herself What Would Loretta Do? the murkier the answers became. And what would Kate Valentine do? certainly hadn’t done her any favors. She couldn’t even summon Loretta right now, in her literal darkest hour of need. Why had Loretta forsaken her?

[Kate] knew she was nothing like Loretta. Loretta had always been a fantasy for Kate, sure where Kate was doubtful, confident where Kate fretted, sexy where Kate was awkward and insecure. Everything about Loretta's life had been an escape, from the carefree bartending nights to the super sleuth investigations of the daytime. Kate’s life was nothing but a computer screen, death investigator websites, and takeaway dinners. She’d been lying to herself and everyone else, pretending she could ever be normal this weekend.
END QUOTE

This weekend just happens to be the occasion of her boss Spencer Lieman’s wedding to Kennedy Hempstead, the marketing manager at the publishing house which prints the Loretta Starling mysteries. Making matters awkward is the fact that Spencer is also Kate’s ex-fiance. Worse, the two of them actually broke up because of Kennedy. Kate has no interest in attending the nuptials but also doesn’t know how to say no, given the series of blandishments she’s been sent by Kennedy’s wealthy family to attend.

Another unwelcome surprise lies in store for her upon arrival, as hot Australian adventure guide Jake Hawkins has somehow been invited to the wedding, too. Kate has done her best to avoid having anything to do with him since completely humiliating herself on their last drunken night together, back before she started dating Spencer. That, however, doesn’t mean that Jake has done the same. To her surprise, he’s even read her books, though he admits:

QUOTE
[“]I only read them for the Blake bits, since he’s obviously based on me. That kiss with Loretta when she thought the storm was going to tear the roof off the bar? Wowza.”

“He is not based on you,” Kate said with an eye roll.

Jake matched her eye roll. “Of course he’s based on me. He’s hot, he’s hilarious, he wakeboards, and he’s British.”

“You’re Australian,” Kate pointed out.

“Same thing to you Americans,” Jake said. “Our names even rhyme. Jake? Blake?”

“That’s… coincidence,” Kate said, turning away to hide her frown. They really did rhyme. How had she missed that?
END QUOTE

A beleaguered Kate plans on bearing down, overruling her subconscious and powering through what looks increasingly like it’s about to be the most disastrous weekend of her life. But in a killer twist, she stumbles across a dead body and realizes that someone is using her own plotlines to frame her for murder. With Jake as her only ally, she’ll have to do more than just channel Loretta in order to find the real killer. As danger looms, will she be able to save her own life without risking her heart in the process?

Jenny Elder Moke’s debut adult novel more than ticks off all the genre boxes as it presents a deeply satisfying murder mystery and romance novel mashup. Kate is realistically insecure but also determined to overcome the perilous situations that she finds herself in. The blossoming of her relationship with Jake is both sexy and swoon-worthy. I especially loved how Ms Moke confronts the most annoying tropes of the genres and cleverly turns them into this novel’s strengths. I very much hope she writes more fiction along these lines, as she’s proven herself to be an excellent author of both crime and tenderness.

3.5 ⭐

Perfect for fans of mystery/detective novels! This book feels like you have jumped in the middle of a detective novel and you are trying to figure out who the suspect is along with the main character.

Thank you to netgalley for a copy to enjoy.

A fun combination of romance and mystery. I had a hard time following sometime between what was in her head and what was actually happening on the page which made it harder to get into. The characters were fun though!

The characters in this novel were fun and full of life. The storyline was lacking but the characters made it all worth it.

I am such a mood reader and I won't lie, I found it hard for me to reach for this book for a while. It never felt like the right time!
Once I did start it, though, I had a fun time. It was a great combination of mystery and romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Jenny Elder Moke for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read. A fun mystery with some romance mixed in. The mystery aspect was very entertaining and enjoyable, even for someone who doesn’t read mystery very often. I definitely would recommend this as a quick, fun read!

Thank you to St Martins Press and Minotaur Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was super excited to get into this book! It has everything I want in a rom com murder mystery. I loved the premise and the family drama on the yacht. I think the main character being an author and being in her head half the time pretending to write her books and calling back to her old books kind of bothered me. It was cute and fun though! I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun light romance comedy murder mystery. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC.

This is such a fun murder mystery book with a hint of romance. Kate Valentine is a mystery book author who is attending her ex-fiancé's lavish wedding on a private island. Before the wedding, she runs into an old flame of hers - Jake Hawkins. Jake Hawkins and Kate were together before her relationship with her ex-fiancé, but they broke up. This is where the romance comes into play. The murder mystery part of the book is because Kate stumbles upon an a dead body on the island, and Kate takes it upon herself to try and solve the murder mystery, like the main character in her book series, Loretta Starling.

There were aspects of this book I really enjoyed! I liked the authors' writing style; it flowed very well. I wanted to find out what happened and who did it. The book kept me in suspense. I felt the book could have used more clarity around who were each of the side characters and with the setting description. Overall, I would give this book three stars and would recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for a free review. It is out now!

She Doesn’t Have a Clue takes place in Seattle, Washington and follows bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine who is off to attend the wedding of her ex-fiancé. Also attending the wedding is Jake Hawkins, who is Kate’s biggest romantic regret and was inspiration for one of the characters in her novels. When the bride is poisoned, Kate must channel her famous detective character, Loretta Starling, to try and solve the mystery. This locked-room mystery is a fun story where Kate needs to try and become the detective that she writes about while also balancing her interactions with Jake as the two of them team up to solve the case. There are essentially two main plots in the novel as the first path takes the readers on the case to solve the mystery while the other highlights the “will they won’t they” potential romance between Kate and Jake. While the mystery part was enjoyable, I did find myself more interested in the romance part of the story.

As Kate is the opposite of her fictional character Loretta, there is a lot of back and forth with personality traits. Kate keeps trying to channel Loretta to help solve the mystery, but the number of characters traits can sometimes make it hard for the reader to track. The pacing is on the slightly slower side and sometimes had trouble deciding it wanted to be more campy or more serious. I think the balance was better in the author’s Samantha Knox series as it leaned more into the campy side, which is where this novel would have nicely been placed. It had all the pieces there, but there were some moments that just seemed out of place. The mystery itself was decent, but not quite as captivating as I hoped for and, as for the romance, I wish there was a little more build up before the characters make the leap. Overall, this novel was fun and interesting and kept the author’s fun writing style. There were a lot of elements to enjoy, so I can see myself reading more from the author in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Minotaur Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

This book was an interesting take on a romance and mystery all tied into one. While it did lean more towards the romance component, I really enjoyed the sprinkle of mystery/thrill Moke weaved throughout the story.

SHE DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE – by Jenny Elder Moke

‘A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.’

‘As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.’

Moke knows how to turn up the McSteamy in this murder mystery/Rom-Com, with the whodunit simmering on the back burner, whilst our main character and Mystery Author, Kate Valentine, gets hot and heavy with ….

Nope, no spoilers. ; )

At times, Kate does come off as clueless in more ways than one—making for an interesting, though entertaining, read.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martins Press (Minotaur Books), for providing me with an eBook of SHE DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE at the request of an honest review.

DNF

Let me start this by saying that I have heard great things about the book, but it's not in my cards currently. If you like quirky romance, though, you'll probably enjoy this one!

✨ This book was release January 2025 however I read the ARC provided by Minotaur Books and NetGalley ✨

This felt like a Hallmark mystery flick but with spice! I was totally unprepared for the spice, but hey, surprise me, why don’t you? However, it missed that "Whodunit?" thrill that keeps you binge-reading until dawn. I cracked the killer's identity early on, but their motive? That took forever, and by the time it was revealed, I was like, “Oh. Ok.”

The number of tropes was rivaled only by the cast of characters - seriously, it was a character overload! Each character comes with their own dramatic saga, adding to the confusion.

In the end, I wasn’t rooting for any of the characters, the plot felt like a wild goose chase, and the spice felt like it was sprinkled in haphazardly. The story could’ve wrapped up after the big reveal (then we had that whole cougar subplot? Like what?!) The use of ellipses was overkill, the ‘fake’ book snippets disrupted the flow, and did I mention I really didn’t care for any of the characters, especially the FMC? A miss for me overall.

✨✨✨
Thank you to Minotaur Books for offering this book for review via NetGalley. All thoughts expressed are my own. There was no obligation for a review in exchange for an advance copy, and no commitment to provide one.

I honestly forgot I had the arc for this since I received it in a book box.

Since I work in the wedding industry, I always gravitate towards wedding books, and this one did not disappoint! I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.

This was a fun read. I thought the characters had charm and made you root for them. Some of the dialogue felt a little forced and there were times were it came across that the author was trying too hard, but overall it was a fun read.

This was a fun book! It fell more distinctly into the cozy mystery category than romance leaning, but I really enjoyed it. The characters were charming and the pacing went along nicely, making this a quick and enjoyable read.

This book was light and fun - a perfect blend of romance and mystery. It was an excellent break from all of the stress I've been under as of late. Thank you to the publisher and net galley for copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.