Only got past first few chapters. Not my favorite main character. ( )

Hayley Powell is a single mother of two who works as an office manager at a small newspaper. When she realizes she barely has enough to get by, she digs in her heels and asks her editor for a raise. While he tells her there just isn't any money, he offers her a new job: If she'll take over the food column he'll give her $25 for each one published. Since she really has no alternative, she accepts the job.

For her first column she offers a recipe that everyone seems to love except one person - Karen Appelbaum, food columnist at a rival paper. Karen first accuses her of stealing recipes, then when they have a slight collision in the supermarket, Karen ends up with Hayley's mother's recipe for clam chowder and publishes it before Hayley has a chance. Now everyone thinks Karen is the genius who came up with the recipe and really do think Hayley stole it.

But it's a nasty encounter at a bake sale that causes the most trouble, and Hayley threatens Karen. So when Karen is found dead that evening and Hayley is at the scene, she's considered the main suspect. In fact, she's considered the only suspect. Hayley realizes if she doesn't want to spend her life behind bars, she has to find out who set her up to take the fall...

This sounded like a great premise to me: a single mother who takes a shot at writing a food column. But oh, my, I had no idea that Hayley was too stupid to live. She's flighty and honestly, seems not to be very bright at all, and neither are her friends. I mean, she goes out with them and Mona, who has her own lobstering business, is telling her that she's pregnant for the sixth time, and upset with her husband because of it. Excuse me, but has this woman heard of birth control? There are many different options to keep from getting pregnant, and she could use any of them. Perhaps Liddy and Hayley could have a sit down with Mona and explain it to her. She'll probably need it in the future.

Then, Hayley goes to a bake sale where Karen happens to be, and Karen squirts whipped cream on Hayley's backside. After asking Karen if she's back in third grade, Hayley rubs a brownie into Karen's sweater. Say what? Which starts a food fight. Between adult females. A LOT of adult females. And people are sooo amused by this they just shell out money because it was so hilarious. Um, no. They'd probably be embarrassed and leave instead of staying at this disaster.

As if that wasn't enough, at Karen's funeral Hayley's friend Liddy notices that her antique brooch is on the dead woman's outfit. So she tells Hayley she needs to go get it, because she's not having it buried with the body. Sooo....with everyone looking, Hayley rips it off the outfit. She doesn't bother unpinning it, just yanks, and her 'friend' Liddy doesn't offer to run interference - by I don't know, distracting the minister maybe while Hayley surreptitiously removes it - nooo...she stays put and allows Hayley to look like she's stealing it. She doesn't even 'fess up and say it belonged to her. She just allows Hayley to take all the heat; but then again, 1) what was Liddy doing lending an antique brooch to Hayley? and 2) what was Hayley doing lending out a brooch that didn't even belong to her????? Who does that? It didn't make any sense, especially because she didn't even like Karen. I certainly don't go around borrowing stuff and then lending it out to other people - and if I did, I wouldn't lend it to someone I didn't like. Hayley the doormat, I guess.

I have to admit after this ridiculous scenario (and ridiculous it was) I pretty much lost interest in the book, and skimmed a lot, especially since I had already discovered the murderer. (Hayley gave us a pretty big clue). Still, I wanted to see if this woman-who-act-like-an-idiot was as stupid as she first appears, and yup, she was: She's running with her dog and someone is shooting at her. She mentions she's next to the car that was following her, the driver's door is open and the engine running; then a shot rings out and hits one of the mirrors...and she doesn't get in and drive away. I think under the circumstances, the police wouldn't consider it a stolen car. Why would they? She's got the mirror for proof - all she had to do was get in the car and leave. The killer would be stranded, and the police would know who owned the car. (She couldn't remember a single detail about it when asked, though).

Unfortunately, situations that could have been hilarious just came off as totally insane. Hayley is a sad woman who really needs someone to help her sort out her life because she's not doing a very good job of it. She acts more like an awkward teenager who hasn't found their feet yet in the world.

Since this is the first in the series, I usually give the author a pass in the hope that the second will be better, and I would like to say that this is true (although I haven't as yet read the second), but this just wasn't believable, and unfortunately, the murder investigation took second place to Hayley's antics, which just got in the way. ( )

ZERO stars

This cozy mystery is the first in the Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery series. Hayley is a single mother of two teenagers in Bar Harbor, Maine. She works at the Island Times newspaper as the office manager, but when the much-loved food columnist finally retires, Hayley steps in to that role. Unfortunately, she immediately runs afoul of the rival newspaper’s kitchen diva, and everyone in town is soon aware of the bad blood between Hayley and Karen Appelbaum. So when Karen is found poisoned, suspicion is immediately focused on Hayley.

Okay, there’s a decent idea for a cozy here. But the execution (and I use that word purposely) is terrible. The characters are cardboard cutouts, the plot (thin as it is) is completely ridiculous, and the dialogue is tortured. None of the characters – victim, suspects, Hayley, her friends, her brother, the police chief, her fellow reporters, etc – has an ounce of sense. They are simply too stupid to live. The author pads the book with nonsense – colorful descriptions of the dog, or the librarian, or the hunky groundskeeper – that does little or nothing to advance the plot or explain the characters’ motivations.

I kept reading only because fulfilled several challenges. At least it was a fast read.

Couldn't get past the first chapter. ( )

it's is great. i love it. i will read the other volumes. the first chapter was "meh," but i don't give up until chapter 3. i am glad i was hooked by the end of ch 3. i really love the fact she writes a food column in the newspaper and they put the article in the book. the article is a cute, funny story about something that happened to her and why she choose the recipe. she also includes a cocktail recipe with each article. and it's present day which is great. ( )