#Book #Review ~ The Day Job is Murder McKinley Mysteries, Book 1 by Carolyn Arnold ~ #CozyMystery



McKinley Mysteries
by Carolyn Arnold

Series Information:

Romance. Humor. Murder. Are you looking for a murder mystery without all the graphic violence and foul language? Something that you can enjoy in an afternoon and walk away feeling good about afterward? How about a dash of humor and romance? If so, meet former detectives Sean and Sara McKinley. When a billionaire leaves them all his money, they no longer have to work, but they find themselves sticking to what they’re good at—solving murders. Undercover, off the books, and around the world, they’ll get to the bottom of things…and romance it up along the way.

This is the perfect book series for fans of Hart to Hart, Castle, Colombo, Monk, Rockford Files, Psych, and Magnum PI.

Book Overview (in published order):

The Day Job is Murder (2014)
Vacation is Murder (2014)
Money is Murder (2014)
Politics is Murder (2014)
Family is Murder (2014)
Shopping is Murder (2014)
Christmas is Murder (2014)
Valentine’s Day is Murder (2015)
Coffee is Murder (2015)
Skiing is Murder (2016)
Halloween is Murder (2017)

The Day Job is Murder:


The bad guys aren’t the only ones on his radar…

For Albany PD homicide detective Sean McKinley, catching killers is the easy part of his job. Working next to his beautiful partner, Sara Cain, is what’s difficult. It might have something to do with the fact that he’s fallen in love with her, though. Fortunately, she feels the same way about him. But she’s convinced they should just be friends.

If only there was some way to change her mind…

Major Retailer Links for this book:






Read My Review:

The Day Job is Murder (McKinley Mysteries #1)The Day Job is Murder by Carolyn Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Day Job is Murder is more of an unrequited love story than an actual mystery. Sean and Sara are partners on the Albany police force. They are in love with one another but Sara has convinced herself and Sean to only be friends. Co-workers and romance don’t always work out. There is a crime committed in the novella and Sara and Sean work hard to solve it. However, this is more of a laying of a foundation for the series.

Partway through the novella, Sean is made aware of the death of someone from his past. As Sean reconciles the death, his grief, and his regrets, something unexpected occurs. Something life-changing for Sean and potentially allowing a shift in the relationship between Sean and Sara. While the ending was not realistic to me, overall the book kept me interested.

The Day Job is Murder is a short, cute novella paving the way for a multi-book novella series. The story is simple, easy to read, and fast paced. We get history of how Sean and Sara met and history surrounding Sean’s relationship with the deceased person. I was engaged in the story, interested in the dynamics between Sean and Sara, and empathetic to Sean’s regrets over the death of someone he knew. I look forward to reading the next novella.

I purchased my copy of this book from Amazon.

View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment

Reviews by Saph has moved....again

In an effort to streamline and make things easier for me, I've decided to move this blog to a separate gmail email address, hence a new ...