Like & Subscribe for Murder

A Detective Sam Mystery, Book 1

By: Elle Kleos

Narrated by: TJ Clark

Nonbinary Detective Sam is on the case—although a murder at a social media influencer's wedding isn't exactly their typical case.

On Paradiso Island, the wedding of the century is set to begin. It's going to be the perfect wedding, except for one small problem...

A staff member at the club has inconveniently gone and gotten herself murdered mere days before the event. Now it's up to Detective Sam to solve the murder before anyone else can get hurt. Between shifty social media influencers, disgruntled staff, and one annoyingly handsome translator, they will have their work cut out for them.

Knives Out meets Scream Queens in this queer murder mystery that is perfect for listeners seeking a feel-good, fast-paced investigation full of memorable characters and laugh-out-loud dialogue.

©2022 Leah Kleynhans (P)2022 Leah Kleynhans

Funny, mysterious, a great listen!

The island of Paradiso is filled with influencers, insta celebrities, and sponsored content. When a body of a staff member is discovered inopportunely the week of an influencer wedding, non-binary Detective Sam is called in to crack the case. Surrounded by wealth, privilege, and an absence of tact, Sam doesn’t shy away from making allies where they can, and inserting themselves into life at Paradiso to solve this mystery.

After reading the description I was immediately intrigued! I love a cozy murder mystery, but add in a queer romance and non-binary main character? This was just hands down enjoyable! With humor reminiscent of Schitt’s Creek, the mystery kept me guessing the entire way through, and I was still surprised by the ending! The audiobook also includes some tasteful sound effects and wonderful narration!

Thank you to the author, Elle Kleos, for a gifted copy of the audiobook for review purposes!

Murder mystery

**3.5 stars**

The premise caught my attention and I thought the murder mystery, and having a non binary character was cool but the story fell flat for me and I lost interest in the middle.
The narrator, TJ Clark was okay. He has a lilt when he’s telling the story. It was okay at the beginning but as the story progressed I realized that in some scenes, some phrases were being repetitive.

One of the male characters was a Spanish translator, but instead of the locals speaking in Spanish it was told in English in a monotone voice and then the translator was repeating it again in English. This completely took me out of the book.

The murder mystery was interesting and I was shocked to find out who was behind everything. I had a inkling of who was behind it, but the author did a wonderful job of leading you to believe it was someone else.

If you’re looking for a queer mystery read with a non-binary character, I believe you will enjoy this book.
My main issue was the narrator and the changes that completely took me out of the story.

Amazing, fun murder mystery

Great murder mystery. Lots of different suspects for the reader to speculate about, and an ending that satisfies the various plot threads. Lots of fun antics to entertain while the mystery plays out. TJ does out outstanding job narrating. Lots of dialogue and it is always clear who is speaking with voice changes that work great. Definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a fun book.

Excellent story

Thought during the first chapter I was going to hate it, but it very quickly turned into a delightful romp. I wouldn't call it a cozy mystery because Detective Sam is a professional and some violence happens, but it does have a fairly cozy mystery feel.

My only complaint is that it does kind of fall into the stereotype that non-binary people are all AFAB.

Like & Subscribe for Murder

Trigger Warnings: Murder, alcohol, sex off the page, sex, off the page blackmail, infidelity, revenge, affair, drug addiction, blood, attempted murder, domestic violence, lying, bribery, arrest, gun, reckless driving, police brutality

Representation: They/them pronouns, MLM relationship, Gay, Non-binary

Like & Subscribe for Murder is a funny, queer murder mystery which centers a wedding on an island between two social media influencers. When a dead body is found, Detective Sam appears on the scene to help solve this mystery. They quickly discover that the island isn’t as perfect as it seems and this case won’t be open and shut.

Wow I really liked this story! It is very quirky and funny! The mystery keeps you on your toes throughout the entire book and is not spooky or scary! The author does a fantastic job crafting this crazy wedding/social media world that parallels a fun murder mystery with a bunch of twists! This story also provides a cutesy love story for any romance fans. I feel like this book is such a gem and needs to be found by more queer readers and readers alike!

Cozy mystery

Like and subscribe for murder by Elle Kleos is what I consider a cozy mystery. I did take off a star because in my opinion the book didn’t match the title. I would have liked there to be more social media in it, but that is just my opinion. Other than that it was fantastic. It follows a detective named Sam and Sam goes by the pronouns they/their/them/ this is a queer novel. And Sam goes to an island of Paradiso to investigate a murder right in the middle of setting up for a wedding of a social media influencer. Someone murdered one of the staff members.. but who? We follow Sam as they solve the case! Like I said not a lot of social media in the book maybe every few chapters or so. There are some funny moments in the book as well that actually had me laughing. Teddy comes in the book as a translator for Sam considering on the island of paradiso they speak Spanish and Sam doesn’t quite understand Spanish. At first no one on the island wanted to talk to Sam, they are not the normal detective that they are used to dealing with. Sam was called on this case from the main land. Do they finally warm up to Sam? There is a love interest in there for Sam as well but who could it be? Do they distract Sam from the case? Or does Sam stay right on the ball? It’s a race to see if same can catch the killer. How many people does Sam have to save? This is a fast paced book. Just what I needed to get out of a reading slump! I recommend this author and this book. I will definitely be reading more from them! And a special thanks to the author for providing me with this audiobook for my review. Every review I do is completely honest and genuine. Thank you!

An interesting novel, but not quite there

The story was pretty good, but I had a little trouble with the character development. Sam is introduced as a no nonsense detective and by the book. To the point they won't allow another officer participate oin the investigation because that officer knows most of the potential suspects. However, Sam then develops a friendship with a very obvious potential suspect. Little contradictions like this took away from the story. It was also a little
long.

fun read!

the story is fun, interesting and just steamy enough with great narration! definitely recommend