This is the debut novel and first in a new cozy mystery series by author, freelance writer, and editor Julie Titterington. Julie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. When she’s not writing mystery novels and essays, Julie spends her time eating, baking, and reading mysteries from the Golden Age.
Jane McLaren is happy living and working as a barista in the sleepy resort village of Desert Pines, Oregon. She lives with her feisty grandfather, Howard, who works as a doctor in town. Julie herself was a doctor before she fell out with her father and left town to get away from him and her previous life. Now that she’s settled into a boring, repetitive life, she tells herself she’s okay with it. Boredom may be a small price to pay for privacy, but Jane quickly discovers that when nothing has meaning, you might start to care about anything. Even the local HOA. When Jane’s manager informs her of a scandal brewing at the local HOA that her grandfather is a part of, her interest is peaked. Jane is then invited to the annual HOA meeting to cater the beverages. At the meeting, tempers escalate neighbor turns on neighbor and the night ends in open murder of the HOA President Chad. Quick to arrive on scene is police detective Joe Connor, who quickly interrogates everyone and requests the assistance of Jane in his investigation. Over the subsequent days, Joe and Jane interview many potential suspects and they also grow closer together. When the murderer strikes again, Jane is convinced that everyone is a suspect, including those closest to her!
Death By Association is the first installment in Julie Titterington’s captivating new cozy mystery series. The book is a thoroughly entertaining, fast-paced small-town mystery rich in character development. The mystery of the novel includes a few complex twists, but the overall story is very easy to follow, and the writing is very clean.
Jane is first presented as a burnt-out barista who’s ignoring phone calls from her father. As the story progresses, we learn that she’s hiding from her past after abandoning her old life due to its pressures, especially those coming from her father. The whole scenario seems a bit extreme, and although Jane is a likeable character, she’s definitely flawed. Jane’s inquisitiveness is a major driving factor in the novel. She’s so bored with her mundane life that she can’t help but know more about the town’s HOA dispute. Her later involvement in the murder investigation with Joe, although quite unrealistic, is the real heart of the story. From their first meeting there is palpable chemistry between them, which only grows stronger as they work together. The HOA board consists of a myriad of interesting characters who hold a sharedanimosity toward their controversial president, Chad Perenna. Jane’s grandfather, Howard, is a respected doctor and very outspoken His and Jane’s contrasting personas add another layer of complexity to the story. All of this rich character development, along with the suspenseful wildfire backstory, contributes to making this audiobook an unstoppable listen.
Narrator Audrey Smiddy does a fantastic job bringing this story to life. Her exuberant and expressive voice lends itself very well to portraying all the various colourful characters and voices in Desert Pines. Smiddy also paces the story extremely well and delivers well-placed, entertaining dramatic flair to key scenes in the novel. An especially good example of this is when she heats up the drama as a fight ensues between Chad and Travis at the HOA meeting.
Overall, this is an excellent debut novel and first book in a new cozy mystery series. In further books in the series, it would be interesting to see the relationship between Jane and Joe progress and for them to encounter a completely new dilemma, unrelated to anything HOA. As the narrator makes this a very entertaining and easy listen, the audiobook is definitely the recommended format for enjoying this one!