Review: Aloha Alibi (Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1), by Jasmine Webb

 

Title: Aloha Alibi (Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1)

Author: Jasmine Webb

Format: audiobook

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Most people flee to Hawaii for gorgeous weather, white-sand beaches, and cocktails at sunset. Charlotte Gibson, however, is fleeing for her life after a vengeful mobster leaves a severed finger on her doorstep as a warning. Message very much received.

That’s how Charlotte—Charlie to everyone except her mom— finds herself on Maui with six dollars to her name, living with a mother who can’t stop giving her advice on how to land herself a husband. But when a businessman is murdered and his company offers a reward to whoever finds the killer, Charlie sees an opportunity: with that kind of cash, she could afford her own place and start a new life here away from the people who want her dead. After all, how hard can hunting down a murderer be?

Teaming up with a couple of old ladies with more spunk than Betty White, Charlie is sure she’s on the right track to snag the reward money. However, the infuriating-but-smoldering-hot cop trying to keep her away from his case has other ideas. Throw in a day job at an ice cream shop, corrupt local politicians, and a best friend trying to act as the voice of reason, and Charlie has her work cut out for her.

Will she be able to find the killer, or is Charlie’s time in paradise going to go straight to hell in a handbasket?"

My Opinion: Charlie Gibson kills a man in self defense who ends up being the brother of a very vengeful mobster, and when she finds a severed finger on her doorstep, she decides it's time to get out of Dodge, fast! The only place she can go, seeing as how she has no money, is Hawaii, where she spent her childhood and where her mother still lives. I mean, there are definitely worse places to go!

I thought this was a very fun book. The premise is far fetched, to say the least, but if you could look past that, it was a good read. I loved that the main characters were all strong, independent women, other than Charlie's mother, who just couldn't seem to talk about anything other than her daughter's lack of a sex life and her single-minded need for her daughter to find a man and get married. That was really annoying. 

There was a semi-romance set up between Charlie and the "infuriating-but-smoldering-hot cop" but it felt forced. I would love to see that delved into further in a more organic way.

Since this was an audiobook, I have to say that I thought the narrator, Khristine Hyam, did a fine job with the different characters, and she injected a lot of feeling into her reading, which was great.

All in all, I enjoyed this cozy mystery, and look forward to reading any further books in this series as I can see the promise in this book.

4/5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an audiobook arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review