Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies by Jenny Elder Moke Published by Minotaur Books on January 20, 2026
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Juliette Winters is used to taking care of business alone. She has no time for petty things like romance, friendships, or emotional commitments. Love is for people who believe in reality TV dating and holding hands in public. She's too busy dominating the publishing world by single-handedly saving her company from financial ruin with the book deal of the century.
Business magnate Warren Ellingham has guaranteed Juliette exclusive rights to his explosive memoir that promises to expose the secrets of his ultra-exclusive country club, Pacific Pines. But when Warren drops dead of an apparent heart attack and the memoir is stolen, Juliette suspects that someone was willing to resort to murder to keep their secrets from being exposed.
Enlisting the help of Charlie Hawkins, a doctor with a heart of gold and abs of steel, Juliette dives into the glamorous and messy world of Pacific Pines Country Club. As the investigation heats up, so does the tension between Juliette and Charlie. But Juliette can't afford any distractions because the bodies keep dropping, and Juliette is tee-d up to take the blame. If she doesn't uncover Warren's killer soon, the thing that was supposed to secure her future might just be the thing that ends it.
Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies is the witty, comical, cozy mystery, standalone follow-up to She Doesn’t Have A Clue. Set in the same world and with characters from the same publishing house, Juliette Winters is trying to save the failing publishing house from going under and she will with the new book she has purchased, a tell all with some salacious stories of some of the high rollers in society. There are just a few problems. The man writing it just died under some unusual circumstances and the manuscript, Juliette hasn’t read yet, has vanished.
Juliette Winters is the star of this book and she was so much fun for me to read. She isn’t the nice girl, she doesn’t say pretty things (normally) and she can do it ALL on her own. When Warren Ellingham drops dead right in the middle of the announcement Juliette has cultivated for months, the one that will save Simon Says Publishing from bankruptcy and get her the promotion she wants, Juliette is going to do everything to prove it was murder and find the missing Manuscript. She is a force of nature and will find a way to get it done.
“So you are going to try and stop me? Because I should warn you, I’m pretty unstoppable. I was voted ‘Most Likely to Orchestrate a Dictatorial Takeover of a Small European Nation’ by my high school model United Nations.”
Juliette is a hot mess is so many ways and has some pretty significant, well earned, trust issues from her parents. But the girl squad from Simon Says are not ones to let her protection persona deter them. They are going to help her solve the murder and get the man (Kate picked out for her) whether she wants it to or not. I loved Kate, Veeta and Kennedy’s aggressive friendship tactics when it comes to Juliette. She needed a crew of girls willing to stand up to her, for her and help in some of me funniest ways ever.
There is also a fun side romance happening as Charlie (Jake’s hot doctor brother) recently out of a bad relationship is enlisted to assist in assessing the cause of death in Juliette’s investigation. They have chemistry, they have a crime to investigate and Charlie keeps being the perfect cover for Juliette. He is also so…nice. Charlie is a great compliment to Juliette’s demeaner and I loved how he sometimes brought out the softer side of her and she stood up for him in ways he never thought to stand up for himself.
“My relationship with Katarina was complicated.”
“You mean because she triggered your people-pleasing tendencies created by an overly demanding father who constantly projected his own insecurities onto you?”
Charlie blinked. “I more meant that it was difficult to divide our things after we broke up, but I suppose you might have a point. A very specific, sharp-edged point.”
There are plenty of suspects who might want Warren dead. He seemed to have made a lot of enemies in his life from his business partners, family and few employees at the country club he owned. Juliette has her work cut out for her if she is not only going to find out who killed Warren, but also what they did with his Tell-All book.
This was such a fun cozy mystery. I loved the girl squad that was always in the middle of some crazy shenanigans the always added to the comic relief of the story. Juliette was just broken enough that while sometimes the reader is frustrated by her need to do it all alone, the reader is also so happy when her plans are thwarted and either Charlie or the girl squad jump in to help. The mystery was interesting and I enjoyed the who dun it part even if I was pretty sure I knew the who earlier on the why was a surprise to me.
Overall another really fun entertaining read read from Jenny Elder Moke that I couldn’t put down once I started.
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Love the cover on this one. It does sound good, I guess maybe I need to find the first one and read it. Great review!
She Doesn’t Have a Clue was a really fun murder mystery set on an Island during a destination wedding. If you like Jenny Elder Moke’s sense of humor it should work for you.
I’ll be reading this soon, it sounds good… I read the first one and enjoyed it. Nice review!
If you liked the first one this should be fun read for you as well. I hope you enjoy it.
This sounds up my alley!!!
Definitely! I think you would enjoy this Carole.
I enjoyed this one too. It was fun.
That girl friend group was fierce!