This book is about a journalist who is looking to figure out if someone killed another TV Anchor and if so, who? I liked learning more about the journalism world and how it is to work an angle to have someone else get there first. I liked the story line with her police source and how Jolene tried to honor her sources wishes to not release something early. I liked the mystery elements to the book. The thing I didn't like about the book was all the politics (it was a bit over the top for me) and the number of things listed in the content advisory. In the end, I thought the book was well written, I didn't know who the killer was until it was revealed. Overall, a solid debut book.

Thank you to the author, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Off the Air by Christina Estes is a mystery localized to the city of Phoenix, Arizona, which made it plenty of fun for a longtime inhabitant (me) to read. For a mystery, it was relatively light-hearted, although justifying that comment will be difficult as Jolene borders on depression much of the time. She is a driven television news reporter who doesn’t seem to be as lucky as some although she works just as hard or harder. Her major case right now is the purported murder of a conservation radio talk show host. As always, the details emerge slowly and some other reporters don’t appear to see the need to verify before they report. She has a long-time cameraman, Nate, who tries to keep her calm and succeeds sometimes. She also has a police source with whom she had a trusting relationship, until, so desperate for a scoop, she betrayed him. It is a different sort of mystery given her profession, and there are a plethora of false leads and other misdirection. But, she is in the perfect position to investigate.

Jolene has a pet goldfish. It’s all she can manage. She watches the Wheel of Fortune each day for comfort as she had watched it with her grandmother in her younger days. She doesn’t have time for, or desire, a relationship with a man. She does have several close friends at the station, though, who are very supportive. She is a great character. The plot is pretty well thought out and keeps until the last minute, despite the fact Jolene thinks she has it solved. Estes writes in a simple, straightforward manner, reminiscent of her career as a journalist. The setting is well-described, and often, and even a resident can learn things from Estes’ descriptions. It is a fine example of a first novel and well worth the read. Thanks Christina Estes for taking this on. It was fun!

I was invited to read Off the Air by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #ChristinaEstes #OffTheAir

Off The Air is a debut book by Emmy award winning reporter Christina Estes. The book follows a young reporter in Phoenix as she breaks the news of the death of a prominent talk show host. Estes years of experience in journalism gives extensive background to the main character, Jolene. For me it proved to be too in depth, more of a distraction, especially for a book that is marketed as a cosy mystery. I found it difficult to connect to the story and characters as the goal seemed less solving the mystery and more getting the scoop. Many characters are simply stereotypes. We are taken out of the story frequently as Estes adds paragraphs of seemingly unrelated information on Phoenix entirely without context. As a resident of Phoenix I’m disappointed, and this pains me. You lose me when you use derogatory terms to describe residents of a neighboring city. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it, but it rankles.
I loved the idea of this book, this series, and Estes clearly has passion, talent, and potential. Unfortunately it doesn’t work for me in this book. She has incredible insight and knowledge that may be suited to nonfiction.
I received an early review copy from the publisher.

Interesting debut novel written by an experienced award-winning reporter about a reporter who finds a story that could be the big, big break in her career. Despite the competition and danger, she latches on and will not let go.

Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter who does a wide variety of stories, general human interest to special projects. She’s persistent, dedicated and determined. And when there’s a death at a radio station, Jolene is determined to be the first one to do the reporting. Which leads to her being determined to solve the murder. Not an easy, or safe, thing to do.

Off the Air is fast paced with a large pool of suspects. It also reads like “A Day in the Life” of a reporter and give the reader a peek behind the curtain to see what goes on behind the scenes. Competitive, cut-throat and not nearly as many smiles as we see onscreen. Good debut that held my interest. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press Minotaur Books for providing an advance copy of Off the Air: A Mystery via NetGalley. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

This was a fast-paced debut, but it often felt like a lot of details without anything really happening. I truly thought Jolene was going to be trying to solve the crime, but relied on others to put the pieces together. I also found it unnecessary to include so many connections to real world politics and prominent news stories throughout the decades.

***ARC received from Minotaur Books and NetGalley for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

Off the Air is the debut novel by Christina Estes. Following a journalist looking for her next big story, an over the top controversial talk show host is found dead. With plenty of suspects and lots of motives Jolene will have to use her skills to get to the bottom of the story.

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t like most of the characters. While I did like Jolene to a point I think my favorite character was probably Jim. He’s the straight laced cop that for a murder mystery was the only one that was wanting to actually solve the mystery. I liked Jolene for the majority of the book even if I found some of the decisions incredibly ridiculous near the end. The rest of the characters are a mix of stereotypes and cliches, some even have nicknames to match their given personality trait. It would have been okay if they were a little less one dimensional.

The mystery was good it had some twists and turns with plenty of suspects all with a reason to have committed the crime. Unfortunately when you have too many twists and turns the payoff can feel a bit like a letdown. Which in this case it did, the misdirection doesn’t really pay off and made me wish it had kind of gone with that direction. While a little too predictably it was a better ending than what I think the book gave us.

The writing was good even if sometimes the flow of the book lost me. The authors experience as a journalist really comes through the book and it was in these moments that the book shines. There is commentary about the change from more traditional journalism to the current social media era of journalism. That everything is for clicks and finding cute names for your viewers. I wished the book had been more of this, commentary of how the world of media is changing. The authors unique insight and her years of experience made her a great choice to write a book about these changes and I wish the book had focused more on that and had the mystery be a secondary subplot to these changes. Also focusing on how rival journalists made interact with each other. These parts of the book were really good and I wanted more of them. At times the book also meanders, bringing up a subject and than giving us paragraphs full of details that don’t add anything to the story other than to discuss a previous topic. While the stuff was interesting it didn’t add much to the story.

Overall Off the Air was a bit of a mixed bag, while the mystery was a bit lacking the discussion on media and the changes in journalism were very interesting and I hope the author focuses more on this going forward.

Off the Air by Christina Estes is a good book for those looking for the action behind the scene of a news story. The book moved too slowly for me and I found it hard to care about anyone in the story. It definitely is not the life for me! There were many people who could have been the murderer. The story is a mystery with some fun thrown in.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Christina Estes, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My favorite part of this book was Jolene Garcia's character and the way the author used her experience as a journalist to give us a glimpse into the occupation and what everyday life is like chasing stories and competing to be the first one to break them. I loved how Jolene maintained her journalistic integrity throughout despite the lengths she goes to and the cutthroat nature of journalism. I also enjoyed the plotting and the whodunnit aspect of the story. Overall, a dark cozy mystery that I would recommend.

Off the air is the story of Jolene a tv journalist investigating the murder of a controversial radio shock jock. Jolene performed the final interview so she and her station get an in to investigate this murder, but soon other journalists and stations start swarming. Given his converses nature, the victim had plenty of enemies with plenty of motives and Jolene is bound to uncover the killer and crack the case.

This was a decent cozy mystery and one I found easy to follow and almost a palette cleanser between some deeper reads. While I did enjoy it, I did think it was a thinly developed plot with underdeveloped characters. However, still a fast-paced whodunit that held my attention and mystery lovers or readers of light-hearted mysteries will enjoy it as well! More of a3.5 star read than a straight 3-4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Off the Air by Christina Estes
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 295 / Genre: Cozy Mystery

Jolene is an ambitious TV reporter anxious to take on bigger, juicier stories. So when controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon dies under suspicious circumstances, she’s determined to be the first to break the story.

I wanted to like Jolene but her singleminded mentality to break the case no matter the cost to those around her who are trying to help her, did not endear me to her at all. This was an OK mystery but I wanted it to be cuter and funnier with more likeable characters.

Thank you, @NetGalley and @Minotaur_Books for my gifted copy.

The summary for Off the Air made me want to read this book. I liked the journalism aspect with Jolene trying to report on the mysterious death of a famous radio personality. However, keeping this short and sweet this book was not for me unfortunately. The book was way too slow of a burn and started to feel redundant. There were a lot of characters I couldn’t keep track of, and the main character actually started to annoy me. I also found myself not caring how the conservative radio host died, since the main things I knew were his controversial views. The book did shine a light on how difficult it seems to be a journalist in 2024.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Christina Estes, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Great premise for a unique mystery however I found the storyline very difficult to follow and the characters to be one dimensional at best.

DNF @ 15%

I tried. Literally after the first chapter I wanted to quit. I gave it until chapter 5 and decided I can't do it.
The main character Jolene (I think is her name.... it isn't said much), is way too try-hard quirky and being the bigger person. JJ is the stereotypical "I'm better than all of you" character, and I cannot stand it. I think if this book started with a scene other than the burger restaurant, I would've been sucked in more. And that first scene was giving too much rom-com vibes with how the main character was acting.
The writing style was also hard for me to get into. A lot of telling. I get it, Jolene is a reporter. We don't need a play by play of a reporter's job.
I'm very appreciative to have been given the opportunity to provide feedback on this title. I hope it finds its audience!

📺 I appreciate with the author was trying to do here. Unfortunately, I don’t think the execution was there. This book is out today. Thank you @minotaur_books & @netgalley for the early look.

📺 Ok, I’ve got thoughts. As someone who has worked in local TV news, I was very excited when I saw the synopsis for this book. But as I began reading it— I wished I could read it through the eyes of someone who has never stepped inside a newsroom.

📺 I think the author was trying to take us behind the scenes of TV news— but what we got was an underdeveloped mystery and a very procedural look at the day-to-day of a reporter that read as procedural, whiny and very ‘inside baseball’ if you will.

📺 While the author could have picked some major issues in journalism today, and demonstrated them— she pointed out every tiny thing reporters often complain about. Rather than coming across as insightful or eye-opening, it just made the MC very unlikable and boring.

📺 And after complaining about integrity of other reporters for 90% of books, she ends up breaking ethical, journalistic and possible even legal rules in the end— going against everything she’d been preaching the entire book. 🤦🏼‍♀️

📺 There are also side tangents that make this book very political. I appreciate the author’s passion for those topics, but I think they belonged in other books. In short, she tried to accomplish too much inside what was supposed to be a cozy mystery.

📺 In short, if you want to read a cozy mystery— there’s better books out there. And if you want to read a behind-the-scenes look at TV news — you’d probably be better off reading something nonfiction.

📺 This one had potential but I think it could have used some more editing. Onto the next!

I received an ARC copy of Off The Air from netgalley. Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn't a hit for me.

The pacing - this was just a slow read. I felt like I was constantly waiting for something to hapoen but instead got bogged down by all of the politics as well as how much the book seemed to be about reporting.

The characters - I really just didn't feel any draw to any of the characters.

The mystery - I think a lot of this goes back to the pacing and how there really were so many things detracting from what was supposed to be a mystery novel.

This one wasn’t quite my favorite. I was intrigued by the premise of the book, investigating a murder for a recently interviewed politician. However, it was a lot more political and focused on being a reporter than I originally expected. That did take me out of the book quite a bit. On a positive note, the author has some good ideas and was able to write an interesting crime. I’d be open to reading her next book, as the was a debut, and with the amount of promise shown, it could be a good one!

Off the Air by Christina Estes is a murder mystery as a local reporter chases the story of her career. Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona. She usually covers general assignments from the monsoon storms to a newborn giraffe at the zoo. When word gets out about a death at a radio station, Jolene races to the scene as she and other journalists rush to report the facts first. As the victim is identified as the controversial talk show host, Larry Lemmon, Jolene realizes that she conducted his final interview, giving her and her station an edge for now. The circumstances around his death are suspicious, the story heats up as the competition to be the first to report grows as well. Jolene is determined to solve this murder as it is the story that could make or break her career.
Billed as “equal parts thought-provoking and entertaining,” Off the Air is the debut novel for former Emmy Award winning reporter Christina Estes. I was intrigued as the main character is a journalist which doesn’t cross my path often. I opened the book eagerly for a fast-paced mystery. However, it fell fast. It wasn’t thought provoking or entertaining. I was bored. I didn’t care about the characters, especially Jolene. She is unlikable from beginning to end and didn’t help put journalists in a positive light. The constant mention of politics, while I understand that it fits the story with the death of a controversial figure, it really bogged down my enjoyment. The mystery quickly becomes secondary to the story and the story quickly becomes more of a love letter to journalism. Overall, the story was okay. If you enjoy journalism centric stories, you may enjoy Off the Air.

Off the Air is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

Off the Air, by Christina Estes, was a complete miss for me and somewhat of a surprise. I began college as a journalism major, but the level of detail was challenging. More important, the protagonist was thoroughly unsympathetic. Dialogue, probably meant to be cute and amusing, seemed snarky to me. I note that I am probably not part of the target demographic, and this is a debut novel. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

I was intrigued by Christina Estes’ debut novel Off the Air because it promises to be a mystery featuring a local news reporter as the lead character. I come from a family with several journalists so I’ve always loved people who do that work and hearing about the industry—their jobs are so hard! What I got with Off the Air surprised me. It delivered what I expected, but it also had several stand out characteristics that separate it from the herd in the world of cozy mysteries. More on those to follow!

About the Book | Off the Air

Jolene Garcia is a young TV reporter at a local news station in Phoenix, Arizona trying to catch a break to eventually advance in her career. Currently she splits her time between general assignments (is your dry cleaner really removing those spaghetti stains?) and special projects. The special projects are stories that Jolene wants to tell, pitches, and takes time to research and produce. This is the part of her career that she hopes to build up.

Jolene is out to lunch with her favorite camera crew member, Nate, when two things happen: she receives word that there has been a death at radio station, and she spills ketchup all down the front of her shirt. There’s no time to worry about the ketchup though! Jolene and Nate rush to the station to see what they can find out. Through some digging, they learn that popular, controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon has been poisoned.

It just so happens that Jolene got the last interview with Larry Lemmon, giving her an advantage over the other local, network, and cable reporters jostling for the story. Even more helpful, she has a source within the police force who slowly feeds her bits of information. Unfortunately neither of these matter in terms of getting the story first. Her police source—Commander Jim Miranda—may give her bits of information, but he won’t allow her to go on record with any of them. Meanwhile Jolene keeps finding herself scooped by other reporters, especially those from network and larger cable news programs. This story could make or break her career—if it doesn’t break Jolene first!

Review | Off the Air

This story took me by surprise. It delves deeply into the world of broadcast journalism, which hooked me in. There is a lot of drama in the industry, it turns out. Jolene made a mistake at a prior reporter job she had in Omaha, and she won’t make the same mistake twice. She double- and triple-checks her facts before moving forward. But over the course of the novel, Jolene begins to crack. It feels like she has setback after setback and the reader gets first-hand experience of the pressure she feels to get the story.

The other reporters all seem to have more experience, more money, and more resources from their networks. Jolene has the advantage multiple times only to see it snatched away—an exclusive she got with a key witness only for them to accept an offer from a much larger network to do theirs first, an interview she goes for but someone else gets there first. These experiences did make Jolene sympathetic to the reader.

Seeing the lead character in a cozy mystery face setbacks isn’t new or rare to the genre. However, I actually thought what Estes did with Jolene’s storyline felt very rare in other ways. Jolene falls apart more or less across the course of the investigation. She starts out with morals, ethics, tenacity, and a positive attitude. By the time the story crosses the halfway mark, she’s burnt out, sleep-deprived, frustrated, and making poor decisions. It was so refreshingly authentic that Estes chose to show Jolene going through this. Her friend and colleague Nate actually steps away from working with her at one point because of what she’s pushing to do. I love when an author is unafraid to show the less attractive qualities in their lead character.

Jolene also has an interesting backstory. She grew up in the foster system after her mother was arrested for drug use and child endangerment. When she was twelve, she was able to go live with her grandmother in Omaha for several years before she passed away. Jolene is on her own in terms of family support, and this was heartbreaking to read about. She has many fond memories of her grandmother and thinks of her often—if she would be proud of her and what she might say. She watches Wheel of Fortune religiously not out of any particular love of the program, but because her grandmother loved it and it keeps her memory alive.

In terms of balance, I would say that the book heavily favors both the drama of working in broadcast journalism as well as what is happening with the mystery. Jolene has very little personal life—most of her life is tied up in work. I appreciated this because the mystery stayed engaging. There were plenty of suspects and a lot going on muddying the waters. The way that Lemmon died meant that the murderer didn’t need to be present at the time of the murder, so this case rested quite a bit on motive, in addition to opportunity. Jolene is receiving cryptic notes about the case at work, adding another layer to the story.

The conclusion was satisfying and surprised me—I didn’t guess who did it and the way the reveal happened was interesting. Jolene also seems aware of her mistakes, which redeems her if the reader had any doubts about her behavior in the height of the case. The relationship between Jolene and Jim (the police commander) was another difference. Often cozy mysteries position the police source as either a love interest or a friend. Jim is neither—they have a professional relationship and Jolene has earned trust with him on prior investigations (trust that takes a pretty large hit during her actions in the current case).

This was a great mystery with a compelling lead and premise! The investigation stays at the forefront. Jolene is a flawed and sympathetic character in equal measure. The rich detail around broadcast journalism comes through, in large part due to the author’s long career in that industry. I think mystery fans will love this!

Intrepid, but reckless, reporter gets in the middle of a murder investigation by sticking her head in where it doesn’t belong, pissing everyone off, and bumbling her way to a story.

Not only is our protagonist not sympathetic, she’s pedantic, constantly inserting weird trivia into the narrative and breaking up the pacing. She’s naively young with a penchant for disdaining pop culture that’s more than 20 years old. She uses people and treats everyone poorly and is generally unlikable.

The office politics is intriguing and the plot line is timely. You might still enjoy this if you’re interested in the behind the scenes of tv news. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.