Lizzie Hart mysteries – Caroline Fardig

Release date (book 1): 11 April 2013
Rating: ★★★★★★ – 6/10
Goodreads link

It’s Just a Little Crush (Lizzie Hart book 1) blurb:

The sleepy town of Liberty hasn’t seen murder in…well…ever.  Residents are stunned when the body of a young woman is found strangled, and reporters at the Liberty Chronicle are thrilled, rather disturbingly, over the biggest news story to hit town this century.

Lizzie Hart has even bigger problems.  Lately, she can’t seem to concentrate on her job as copy editor at the Chronicle with the new hunky investigative reporter, Blake Morgan, swaggering around the office.  How can a girl work when she’s using all of her energy combating Blake-induced hot flashes and struggling to repress the giggly inner schoolgirl that’s constantly rearing her dorky head?  It’s a good thing that Blake barely knows Lizzie exists.

After an odd string of events, however, Lizzie begins to wonder if Blake is really as fabulous as she has fantasized.  When Lizzie and Blake find a co-worker dead, Blake’s personality changes completely—and not in a good way.  Even though the police rule the death as an accident, Lizzie immediately suspects foul play and senses a connection to the recent murder.  She is determined to bring the killer to justice, but is having some trouble getting her Nancy Drew on thanks to the pesky stalker she’s picked up—Blake Morgan.  Wait, didn’t she want him to follow her around and pay attention to her?  Not like this.  Blake has turned from cool and smooth to cold and downright scary, making Lizzie wonder if he should be next on her suspect list.

So, I’ve only added the blurb for the first book in the series as I don’t want to give anything away.  Also, I downloaded all the books through iBooks, so credit to Caroline Fardig’s site for the images.

Overall these are short, cozy mysteries, and I would recommend them to anyone who likes Janet Evanovich books.  There are five books (listed below) and they’re fun, snappy stories with intrigue and plot twists, as well as some cute dialogue and relationships.  But don’t get me wrong – they can also be a little dark at times.

All five books centre on the main characters of Lizzie, her best friend, the third wheel in the work-friend group, the mean girl, and her on/off boyfriend.  Other characters appear throughout the series and they are all likeable people with their faults and flaws.

It’s a good recipe for cozy mysteries and I enjoyed them.  Just not quite as much as I like Evanovich…