Sticks, Pucks, and Murder Review: A Cozy Mystery From Inside an NHL Locker Room

Read Time: 5 minutes

📱📖 Read on Kindle 📃 180 pages ⏱ Duration: 2 hours
Genre: Cozy Mystery 🏷️ Bee in the Poppy Press
ARC provided by the author

Book Blurb:

Carolyn Lutkin loves her job as equipment manager for the Virginia Watchmen, an NHL team full of big personalities and even bigger egos. She knows every stick, skate, and pre-game superstition on the roster, and she’s carved out real respect in a locker room that isn’t always eager to hand it out. But when one of her players turns up dead, Carolyn finds herself pulled into the investigation almost against her will. Determined to find out what happened without losing her job, or her life, she starts asking questions no one on the team particularly wants answered. It’s a fast, clue-forward mystery that keeps you guessing right alongside her.

Let’s talk about the book:

Enter the world of the NHL through the eyes of an equipment manager. I am not too familiar with the NHL world, and (call me naive) did not know that a job as an equipment manager existed. So, seeing this point of view in a new world through the eyes of a woman was just amazing for me. Carolyn Lutkin does not take shit from anyone. In a man’s world, she has made her own mark and the respect the team has for her is well earned. I really enjoyed the character that Samantha Rick has built in these pages. Carolyn Lutkin definitely builds up as an inspiration.

The only thing that didn’t work for me is the reason why Carolyn decides to become an amateur sleuth. There’s no reason. She is neither a suspect nor is close to the victim. The only rationale behind her wanting to “find the truth” is because of a disrespectful conversation she has with one of her seniors. While I understand the need to prove oneself when one gets berated, the motivation is strong enough for me to warrant such level of dedication. However, if that one thing is kept aside, the investigation itself is done rather well. It is a traditional mystery where the clues are there while you read, and you can solve it alongside Carolyn. I confess, I didn’t solve it, because I was too wrapped in the narrative style to actually solve it. The fun is there, whether you just want to read and enjoy a cozy mystery, or want to play armchair detective while the story progresses.

Whichever seat you are in, check this story out. It’s worth your time.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, and mostly because of Carolyn herself. She’s the kind of character who makes you want to follow her into whatever locker room, arena, or crime scene comes next, even when the mystery plot around her wobbles a little. The pacing is quick, the clues are fair, and honestly, I just liked being in her world for two hours. Add this one to your TBR before it releases. If you want a cozy that trades tea shops and bakeries for skate tape and sticks, this is it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

You Might Also Like:

• Die Like an Eagle by Donna Andrews
  If you liked watching Carolyn navigate a sport she’s not competing in, you’ll like Meg Langslow even more. Meg is “Team Mom” for her sons’ youth baseball league when a body turns up in the world’s most inconvenient location, and she ends up investigating almost by accident, the same way Carolyn does.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Six Strokes Under by Roberta Isleib
  This one swaps the NHL for the LPGA Tour. Cassie Burdette is a professional golfer who gets pulled into a murder investigation on tour, so if the sports-world setting was your favorite part of Sticks, Pucks, and Murder, this scratches the same itch from inside a different game entirely.

Indiebookstores.ca | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
  Another woman who does not take shit from anyone. Vera runs her own tea shop and takes it upon herself to solve a murder that happens right on her doorstep, with the same “I earned my place here and I’m not backing down” energy that makes Carolyn so much fun to read.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
  If what you loved most was getting a woman’s-eye view into a world you don’t normally see behind the curtain of, this one gives you that same feeling, just swapping the NHL locker room for 1950s Paris and the circle around Julia Child.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
  For the “I want to play armchair detective” reader in you. This one is even more clue-forward than Sticks, Pucks, and Murder, and it rewards readers who actually want to try and beat the sleuths to the answer.

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy

Ever Worked a Job Nobody Knew Existed?

Before this book, I had no idea “equipment manager” was even a job title in the NHL. Had you heard of it before? And more importantly, would you have made a better amateur detective than Carolyn? Drop your thoughts below.

Book Links:

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