A Shot of Murder by J.A. Kazimer

Title: A Shot of Murder ( A Lucky Whiskey Mystery #1)

Author: J.A. Kazimer

Published on: 25 August 2020

Genre: Mystery and Thrillers

A Shot of Murder is the first book in A Lucky Whiskey Mystery series by J.A. Kazimer.

Charlotte Lucky left Gett, Florida, ten years ago and moved to L.A. to pursue a career in acting. An STD commercial and a role as a killer on NCIS later, Char had to return to Gett after Grandpa Jack’s health scare.

She discovers a pickled corpse in one of the whiskey barrels and hell breaks lose. The dead man is Roger, an employee at Lucky Whiskey. grandpa Jack is arrested for the murder and it is up to Lucky to prove her grandfather’s innocence and bring the real killer to justice before it is too late.

I have mixed opinions about this book. As much as I liked the series theme, I cannot say the same about the character portrayal. The characters are simply annoying.

Char left Gett but not before painting the town’s water tank green. A decade later, people still hold grudge against Char for ‘ruining’ the mellow yellow color of the tank. I mean, seriously, these people need to grow up! They remind Char of her (mis)doings… at all times. And here I was thinking time heals… Oh hum!

There’s an attempted rape scene and this surely leaves a foul taste in the mouth. Char went on a date when she was fifteen and her date tried to force himself onto her. A decade later, the guy is still in Gett and he threatens Char… again. Not only this, there are few who still hold a grudge on Char for god-knows-what-silly-reasons (apart from the water tank incident) and they are downright rude to her.

Coming to the not-so-bad part of this story, which of course, is the mystery behind the murder. Char, as an amateur sleuth, is impressive (if you ignore how she takes in all the snide remarks instead of giving it back). The identity of the killer is well-hidden in a handful of red-herrings. The identity of the killer was, no doubt, a huge shocker.

I will give the second book a try before deciding to follow (or not) the series. Holding grudge against Char for something she did a decade ago is tolerable but objectifying women and treating them as trash certainly doesn’t set a good example. Hopefully things might have improved in book #2.