Review: Fatal First Edition (A Library Lover’s Mystery Book 14) by Jen McKinlay Is Riddled with Problems
- Roma Drama
- Nov 26, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2024
When you are a book nerd, finding a book about a book is next level! Unfortunately, Fatal First Edition misses the mark.
What Is Fatal First Edition About?
Briar Creek library director, Lindsey Norris, drags her husband, Sully, to a Chicago conference to learn about book restoration. While there, someone stashes a valuable book into her bag—Patricia Highsmith’s novel, Strangers on a Train, inscribed by Alfred Hitchcock. Lindsey quickly returns the rare find to the conference director who winds up dead on the train ride home. Worse yet, the novel reappears in her conference bag!
With a murder to sort out and an epic blizzard pummeling Briar Creek, the local inn accommodates the passengers while the town sheriff interrogates them as potential suspects.
When someone close to her disappears, Lindsey must use her wits to outsmart the murderer before he or she strikes again!
Review: There’s a Lot that Doesn’t Jive in Fatal First Edition by Jen McKinlay
I love the cozy mystery plot concept about a book being so valuable that someone is willing to kill for it; however, the author’s attention to detail is sloppy, the circumstances she creates are implausible, and the ending is hard to follow.
The dialogue lacks depth and authenticity. While McKinlay attempts to give each character his or her distinct voice and personality, most morph into a blob of uniformity. Some dialogue uses modern and annoying phrases like, “sorry not sorry,” but then dredges up archaic words no one uses in real life, like “busybody” and “daft.” The male characters sometimes speak like a woman would, so it is clear the author can’t get out of her own head to breathe unique life into the people she creates.
The entire novel is wordy, which brings into question the editing process. It’s easy to miss important points because the reader gets lost in a word jungle.
Circumstances the author develops don’t track. When the blizzard hits, the characters manage to keep trekking around town for what had to be hours while other characters warn that they should return home before the blizzard makes travel impossible. Based on the description of the storm, roads would have been impassable far sooner—the characters would never have been able to cover the ground that we’re supposed to believe they did. Even at the peak of the storm, Lindsey’s best friends drop by her house, and the killer manages to sneak out of the inn, unnoticed, to accomplish numerous tasks. Sully’s truck is stolen, and we’re supposed to believe the killer left a burner phone and an incriminating camera roll inside it?
Twice, characters fall asleep standing up. One occurrence would be rare, yet it happens twice?
McKinlay tries to be clever, but it feels forced and artificial.
The Big Reveal is a convoluted mess. Cozy mystery fans are accustomed to sifting through details, assessing red herrings, and piecing the clues together to determine the killer and motive, yet the book is rushed, making the ending difficult to process. Thankfully, the author allows her characters to sum up and explain what happened to everyone else. Even then, the reader struggles to grasp it all, especially the few unexpected twists that are supposed to be clever but feel contrived and out of place.
McKinlay Checks Woke Boxes in Fatal First Edition
Most of us read for the same reason we watch movies—to escape. Unfortunately, we are living in a time when the entertainment industry insists on inserting woke political ideology into our shows and stories. Publishers expect authors to check boxes for identity politics, and McKinlay falls obediently into line.
While the woke elements of Fatal First Edition aren’t glaring, a few are included:
Lindsey decides to be more environmentally conscious when she moves to Briar Creek, so she sells her car and buys a bike. She travels around town and to work on her bike, even in the winter. Climate cult.
The sheriff is a woman, a traditionally male office. Feminist.
When Henry Standish is murdered, they try to discover whether or not he is married. They look for a “Mrs.” or a “Mr.” Standish. LGBTQ
The grandson of a rich woman is described as having a “highly privileged life.” Socialist.
When an author caves to pressure or buys into the talking points of the radical Left, I avoid reading his or books ever again. Jenn McKinlay is “one and done” for me.
The Book Nerd’s Final Thoughts on Fatal First Edition
Fatal First Edition isn’t entirely devoid of value. I actually learned a few things:
Occam’s razor—a mystery and problem-solving principle that suggests keeping things simple
Crafternoon—an afternoon spent discussing a book while doing a craft and having food.
TBR Jar—an interesting way to choose the next book to read
Barbecue Pork Sliders with Coleslaw—a great recipe I can’t wait to try!
The beginning of Fatal First Edition is tangled from introducing too many unessential characters, and the ending isn’t satisfying because there is no “aha!” moment where everything clicks into place for the reader. You have to reread the big reveal to make sense of the mess. The middle is riddled with unconvincing situations. Overall, the novel is not well planned, and the editors left too much word salad behind.
*DO NOT RECOMMEND
List of Jenn McKinlay's Novels
If you would like to explore other books by Jenn McKinlay, see the list below:
ROMANCE:
LIBRARY LOVER'S MYSTERIES:
CUPCAKE BAKERY MYSTERIES:
HAT SHOP MYSTERIES:
Review: Fatal First Edition by Jen McKinlay
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