REVIEW: Death by Sudoku (book) by Kaye Morgan

Death by Sudoku is a cozy mystery. I bought my copy used.

Review:

Liza is a recently divorced (or separated? can't remember) former public relations specialist who now creates Sudoku puzzles for her hometown paper. She's off to take part in a Sudoku competition when she encounters Derrick, a minor celebrity who knew her during her public relations days. It's a bit awkward for Liza at first, because she tries to keep her Sudoku and Hollywood public relations selves separate (Sudoku isn't exactly glamorous or cool), but Derrick is also taking part in the competition, so she enjoys the chance to reconnect with him. 

Later on, Derrick mentions something about an apparent code he noticed in a particular paper's Sudoku puzzles. Not long after that, Liza comes across his dead body. Was he really on to something with his theories about the Sudoku puzzles and, if so, can Liza figure out who the culprit is in time?

Ehh, this wasn't great, and I'm surprised the series has 6 books in it. I was drawn to it because I like Sudoku puzzles, but it turns out it isn't all that fun to read about someone's thought processes as they solve Sudoku puzzles. The author tried to add another level of appeal to it by including the Hollywood and public relations aspect, but it didn't really work all that well together and felt kind of forced.

It's been a few weeks since I finished this, and I can remember literally nothing about Liza that was particularly appealing. I didn't dislike her. She was just bland, and even the author's efforts to (already) set up a love triangle between Liza, the guy she went out with in high school, and her ex-husband (soon-to-be ex? again, can't remember) didn't grab me.

The mystery wasn't very good either, to the point where there are basic details I've avoided mentioning because just laying things out feels like spoiling things. It took so long for Liza to make what I felt like were obvious connections that I thought I must have accidentally missed some explanation for why she was avoiding what seemed to be the simplest way to decode the puzzles. But no, it turned out that the stuff I thought was obvious really did just go over Liza's head (seriously, I only had minimal exposure to the Bible while growing up, how did Liza not figure this out sooner??). If the author hadn't been so committed to making the Sudoku puzzles themselves the mystery Liza had to solve, the clues they pointed to were cryptic enough that they could believably have occupied Liza for a while.

Although I bought this used, the Sudoku puzzles throughout the book were miraculously untouched. And yet I didn't feel an urge to do them myself. I also didn't bother to read Liza's 24-page Sudoku tips article at the end of the book. For those who do decide to do the puzzles, there's a solutions section at the very end of the book that's probably helpful.

It's amazing that something this short could still manage to feel padded. It was a relief when I finished this, and I have no plans to continue on with this series.