Anytime of the year is a great time to start a new book or series, but there isn't a better combination than Valentine's Day and the Matchmaker Mysteries series by Elise Sax. It's simply "to die for"!
What can I say about Elise Sax, besides the fact that I love her books? She’s authored several series, all of them cozy, all of them zany and super fun. The first series of hers I read was the Matchmaker Mysteries. Book one is entitled “An Affair to Dismember.” All of her book titles in this series are plays on actual movie titles. Here are a couple more: “Field of Screams,” “West Side Gory,” “From Fear to Eternity.” You get the picture. Elise has lots of fans, and here’s an excerpt from a review of Book one by someone who loved it:
[O]bviously written with humor, filled with ironic gems such as, "I hate death. I'm scared it's contagious" and "I had stolen a cop car to speak to a known criminal about a murder, and the guy wasn't even home? Hmph."
An Affair to Dismember” introduces Gladie Burger, who moves to Cannes, California, to assist her grandmother in her matchmaking business. Each chapter starts with matchmaking wisdom from Grandma Zelda, who just might have a little psychic matchmaking magic, as she always picks people who are perfect for each other. Grandma Zelda insisted on making Gladie co-owner of her business. Grandma Zelda believes in Gladie, but Gladie doesn’t believe in herself. Her grandma is determined to make a top-notch matchmaker out of Gladie in spite of herself.
Of course, each novel has at least one murder in it, which Gladie somehow manages to solve and then announce her results to the entire town of Cannes. Perhaps Gladie’s magic is in her ability to solve murders and not in her ability to find the perfect match for complete strangers.
I don’t remember what compelled me to start reading the Matchmaker Mysteries series, but whatever it was I’m eternally grateful for being pushed in that direction. These books are laugh-out-loud funny. The wild characters and storylines are totally zany. I said “zany” already, didn’t I? Can’t help it. The word fits.
I can’t even imagine the brain that can come up with the types of situations she plunges her main characters into…Elise Sax, you must have been a comedian in a past life.
Plus, she’s very approachable. In one of her books, she mentions Million Dollar Soup (or something like that). I googled it but didn’t find any reference to it, so I emailed Elise, and she kindly explained that she made it up and told me what she puts in it when she makes it for herself.
I’d love to sit down with Elise Sax and really get to know her. I think it would be an incredibly rewarding experience. And hopefully I’d come away from it a much better writer.
Happy Reading!
- Pam