A Plus One For Murder by Laura Bradford

Series Name: Friend for Hire Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: December 7, 2021

Entrepreneur Emma Westlake is reinventing herself as a hired friend when murder gets in the way in this exciting new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Laura Bradford.

Emma Westlake has always wanted to be in business for herself. As a kid, she had her own successful lemonade stand and dog-walking business. And when she entered adulthood, Emma sunk all her cash into her dream job of travel planning. But as her customers became more and more internet savvy, the need for her services declined. At a loss for what to do next, she turns to an elderly friend who suggests she try to get paid for doing something she’s really good at–being a paid companion. Emma thinks it’s a crazy idea until requests start pouring in. Big Max from down the block wants her to act as his wingman at the local senior center’s upcoming dance, nurse practitioner Stephanie needs a workout partner, and writer Brian Hill asks Emma to be his cheering section at an open mic night.

Brian will be reading from his latest work and wants to know someone will clap for him when he’s done. When Emma balks at the notion that people wouldn’t, he tells her the room will be filled with people he’s invited–most of whom will likely want him dead by the time he’s done reading. Assuming he’s joking, she laughs. But when Brian steps up to the mic and clears his throat to speak, he promptly drops dead. Emma is one of the last people to see him alive, and so she becomes an immediate suspect. Now she’ll have to cozy up to a killer to save her skin and her new business.

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Dru’s Short Musing:
I love the premise. Wish I had one of those when I was younger. We are introduced to Emma Westlake who starts a new business, Friend for Hire. Sounds good until her client dies on stage after making a pronouncement. You’ll have to read this book to know what happened.

The author did a great job in staging this well-written and fast paced whodunit. The tone was very comfortable making it easy to follow along with what the author intended. From the start, I was pulled in immediately and could not put this book down until all was said and done. The suspect pool was small, but it was the backstory and the motive that moved the story forward with visually descriptive narrative and engaging dialogue. There were plenty of red herrings that kept me in the guessing game as I devoured every spoken word. When I thought I had a handle on who was doing what to whom, the author changed direction that enhanced my reading pleasure. Bonus is seeing a few familiar names that put a smile on my face. Overall, I love the cast of characters and their diversity in age which made their interactions in this enjoyable drama come alive. I can’t wait to see what adventures await Emma in the next book in this delightfully appealing debut series.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.