Title: Murder on the Rocks
Author: Allyson K Abbott
Series: #1 in the Mack's Bar Mysteries series
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Kensington (August 6, 2013)
Source: Purchased
Rating: ☕☕☕
Synopsis: Mack's Bar is one of those nice, friendly places where everybody knows your name. That's great when someone's buying you a round, but not so hot when you find yourself atop a list of murder suspects--with your fingerprints on the bloody knife!
Mackenzie "Mack" Dalton is a Milwaukee bar owner with a nose for trouble--literally. A neurological glitch has left her with extra perceptive senses. So when she stumbles upon a dead body in the alley behind the bar--the same spot where her own father was shot eight months earlier--she can tell right away there's something fishy in the air. The lead detective thinks there's a link between the two deaths, and he'll need Mack's help to sniff out the murderer amid the crowd of eccentric regulars. But when all the evidence points to her as the most likely culprit, it could be an early last call for Mack--and celebratory cocktails for a killer.
Includes drink recipes
My Thoughts: A decent enough start to a new series with a very unique protagonist.
The Good, The Bad, and Everything in the Middle: I've always been drawn to unique characters, particularly ones with some sort of "disability" as their inner character tends to be strong and full of perseverance. With Mack I've found a character I've never run across before. Mack has Synthesia (a very basic definition is a neurological condition where the person's senses are crossed often resulting in being able to see sounds or taste smells among other things...it is more involved but this is the gist.) Her constantly having to sort if she were having a real sensory reaction to stimuli or a resulting secondary reaction caused by her Synthesia was really interesting. Mack did mention she spent her whole life trying to ignore the sensory reactions that weren't "real" but I would think after so many years some reactions would be constant. For example, her father, although he had already died months before this book takes place, I would think Mack would have one specific occurrence when, let's say, she hugged her father. In turn whenever she would see, taste, or hear that particular indicator she'd know it was her dad's "ring tone" so to speak but all of extra sounds, colors, smells, etc. were viewed as garbage distractions she felt she had to ignore. Towards the end a friend and her were putting together something to track them but I would have thought she would have had a basic list already. Oh and on a side note tasting chocolate when a good looking man talks to me sounds like a great way of controlling my blood sugars. All the flavor. None of the sugars.
OK enough of that. As far as character development goes I thought Mack was done pretty well and left enough room to grow through the series. On a lesser degree, Duncan's character wasn't as fleshed out. I really don't know what he saw in Mack (other than she threw a temper tantrum and stripped in front of him and the rest of the police because she was considered a suspect)….and hey! what guy wouldn't appreciate a young healthy woman who strips in front of him after an hour? His admiration and attention to Mack felt a bit forced unfortunately especially since Mack went from nice to bitchy at the drop of a hat. I spent half the book liking Mack and half the book thinking she was emotionally unbalanced. The bar regulars were not really fleshed out and became stereotypical bar patrons to me. You got the floozy, the 2 brothers who are the wise old owls offering advice to everyone, the pushy boyfriend who was unlikable and you knew that relationship was doomed from the beginning, the crotchety cook, and the secondary father figure who happens to have book shop next to the bar. There were more but you see what I'm saying. None of them were fleshed out really well and none stood out to me. I'm hoping for more development for them in the coming books.
The conclusion felt rushed as the majority of the book was setting up the "sting" where Duncan would pose as Mack's new bartender/server and Mack turned out to be TSTL. Why Mack? WHY? Once murder has been established you do NOT fail to lock your door. You do NOT venture down into the basement during a BLACKOUT. You do NOT assume your fake employee, who happens to be a cop, decided to just leave without saying good-bye. Especially since the night before he was the last to leave and made sure you LOCKED YOUR FREAKIN' DOOR!!! Ugh...I just can't with her. If this was a Friday the 13th movie she wouldn't have even made it to the half way point. Matter of fact she probably would have died during the stripping scene.
In a Nutshell: Despite Mack's TSTL moment at the end of the book I will read the next book in the series. I'm interested in seeing how Mack's condition can be used in the future rather than being ignored and there were quite a few yummy sounding drink recipes included in the book. The coffee based Macktini sounded really tasty.
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