Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an Advanced Read Copy of this book. I was expecting more mystery and less detail about news reporting practices. I might have enjoyed it more if I had connected with Jolene. I found her desperation for getting the scoop a little tedious.

When talk show host, Larry Lemmon, dies under suspicious circumstances, TV reporter, Jolene Garcia sets out to discover the truth. In this debut novel, Christina Estes, sets her story in Phoenix's highly competitive newsrooms. What a great cozy debut!

This book was not for me. It may be a case of judging a book by its cover but I'd been expecting a cozy mystery and I would not say that's what this is. There is a time and place for politics but it's generally not what I want in a light mystery but as the plot involves the murder of a right-wing conservative radio host it comes with the territory.

I never really connected with the main character and didn't enjoy the TV news workplace as much as I expected. Overall, I just wasn't the right audience for this book.

(Petty gripe: Do you know what a PIO is? Because I don't and I don't know that the acronym was ever explained and after it appeared multiple times I finally googled and discovered it stands for Public Information Officer.)

This book was fine. It wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. I was honestly really excited to read this book. A journalist investigating a murder sounds like something that would usually be right up my alley. Usually a mystery book just has to have a mystery I care about solving and a story that entertains me and I'll get so sucked in I finish the book in a day or two.

Some parts, particularly when things about journalism and Arizona history were explained, it felt a little bit like I was getting a lecture on something and I would kind of zone out part way through. Usually when I'm reading fiction I don't necessarily need everything explained to me unless it's super important to the plot. In general I'm okay with it just being "this is how it is" and I'll just kind of accept it. Especially when it's just general things about journalism that anyone who's watched tv or movies has a basic understanding of, I just don't really need to go deeper than what the author can assume I already know.

The mystery part of this book was also...fine? It wasn't bad but it felt similar to something that's been done on every police procedural show ever. Which again is fine when I'm half watching it for an hour. But if I'm investing 4ish hours of my life into reading a book I want something a little more unique...or at least interesting. But the mystery really wasn't bad it just felt a little bland and about 60% through the book I realized I didn't really care how it ended.

Overall the book was fine. I'm just not positive it was the right book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for my eARC of Off The Air!

This story follows a news reporter, Jolene, who is one of the first on the scene of a suspicious death. It happens to be Larry Lemmon, a talk show host, and Jolene was the one who had conducted his final news interview.

Jolene is dead set on getting this story of a lifetime by discovering what truly happened to Larry. I would classify this book as a cozy mystery- not a thriller.

This was an incredible, fast paced debut in my opinion, and I would recommend everyone give it a read!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity.

Jolene Garcia is a local reporter for a television station. The death of Larry Lemon, a controversial talk show host, has the reporters scrambling for the story. The competition among Jolene's peers is intense. Jolene investigates on her own using information provided by her sources and research.

I have mixed feelings about Off The Air. The positive: Interesting twists in this who-dun-it story, which I enjoyed. Estes sharing of local history was a wonderful bonus. Sharing the competition among reporters to be the
first/exclusive gave insight into why our news might be so erratic.

The negative: Disliked each and every character in this story, especially the protagonist, Jolene who I found to be selfish, unprofessional, and careless.

Overall, a read which held my interest enough to finish - with an interesting twist toward the end.

I really wanted to like this book, having grown up in Phoenix and recognizing a lot of the places and locations Estes wrote about, but it was written so badly that I just couldn’t. We did not need the history of so many places in AZ. We did not need the backstories of every character we came across. And if these did need to be included, Estes needs to learn to show not tell. It was just one big info dump. Not a book I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy of this book.

For this to be Christina Estes' debut book, it was really good. I had so much fun with this book and really had me hooked. It was a unique take to be following a murder from the POV of a reporter. It's the kind of story that allows the reader to try to solve the mystery along with the characters. I wouldn't say there's a major plot twist like other mystery books, but who did it was not given away until the very end.

There were some parts that I thought were unnecessary. Like I don't really think Oliver served a purpose. I thought he was going to be the killer and was wearing a wig in the surveillance video or something of that nature. I also think there was a disconnect about the dog phobia (but maybe there was just something I forgot). In some other parts, I just thought there was a lot of unnecessary detail, but that might just be me.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of mysteries!

This book was just okay. Kind of disjointed, didn't flow very well. And honestly, Jolene wasn't really that likeable. And virtually no character development, it was quite superficial. A quick read however.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

This one made me laugh! It was an unexpected read and not a category I’d usually pick up, but I enjoyed it for the most part!

This was a fun book, made more fun by all the references to Phoenix, which happens to be a city known to me. I enjoyed mostly the perspective of a news journalist striving to beat out the competition. I had no idea what that business was like before this book. The story solves a murder mystery, which just seems so natural from the TV journalist perspective. The book is lively, fast-paced, and suspenseful. A very fun read.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC.

Perfect for fans of R.G. Belsky, Off the Air offers a behind-the-scenes view on what a reporter/journalist's life is like. The details provided are intense - I had no idea what pressures a reporter faces every day. The character development was fantastic, the story moved quickly, and the mystery was very well done. I will definitely look for more by Christina Estes.

Jolene Gracia is a reporter in Phoenix. She covers general assignments and fluff pieces. One day she is to cover the death of a controversial radio host. As they get to the scene, Jolene realizes she was the last person to interview him, which gives her an advantage.
As the mystery heats up Jolene is determined to find out what happened and scooped up all the other reporters.
This is a debut novel which I could tell. If this becomes a series, I know the writer will be able to improve the stories – this will make this a good series. I enjoyed it.

Eeek! Glad I'm not a reporter! I couldn't handle the cut-throat, fast paced world! Thankfully Estes gives us a behind-the-scenes look at it through this story!

Chasing a story and trying to figure out a murder - I'm in!

Fun to read and kept me entertained throughout!

This wasn't as fun as I thought it would be after reading the synopsis. Let me start with the good things before I explain why this novel wasn't for me. The mystery was interesting, and I did care enough to find out who killed Larry. I also liked how much research Estes put into some of the information in the book, as she talks about it in her acknowledgments.

That being said, there is a good chunk of very detailed information about things that seem irrelevant to the story. Larry is intended to be an opinionated, right-wing talk show host, but this novel is way more political than it is a murder mystery. I don't mind reading about politics, but I think it was overdone. You can't tell if Jolene, or anyone besides the persons of interest for that matter, actually agrees or disagrees with Larry. There are also many paragraphs, sometimes even pages, of information that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Most of these stem from Jolene describing a character to us, but then the character is entirely irrelevant for the rest of the story. For me, this just made the story feel drawn out.

Jolene is hard to like. She only cares about integrity and morals when it benefits her. She's a terrible friend, neighbor, and coworker. She's rude to her elderly neighbor, even when Norma is trying to help her. Jolene badgers law enforcement during an investigation, chases people at a funeral, and throws someone's child support history in their face to get information. Yet, she wonders why she never gets the scoop and excuses her behavior with "they don't understand the pressure I'm under." Sadly, there's no character development, and her actions are forgiven without a real apology, and everyone calls her the star reporter.

I also had some issues with the story, and I can't decide if they were meant to be ambiguous. Larry's death from cyanide is confirmed, but they never check the cookies or tin for fingerprints or DNA. The timeline is confusing too. It's later revealed the cyanide wasn't in the cookies, but in his coffee. However, Larry drank coffee in the morning, but he died at noon. Cyanide works within minutes, it doesn't add up. Jolene gets mysterious packages, one with a note and audio recording, and another with photos of an environmentalist littering. The reason behind sending these is never explained. It feels random. Jolene's exclusive interview with Larry is built up, but it really isn't ever relevant in the story. Lastly, Oliver doesn't contribute much to the story, and I can't figure out why he was added.

Overall, I don't think this is a bad book, it just isn't my cup of tea. This is a debut novel, so I would definitely be open to reading something else from this author in the future. Estes can write, and the premise was interesting, I just think it needed some work.

Jolene Garcia, a Phoenix news reporter, gets wind of the death of a controversial radio station talk show host, Larry Lemmon. Soon, rumors fly that his death wasn’t accidental. Jolene works quickly to figure out the murder that could make her career or endanger her life.

This novel is a who-did-it but involving a scenario that isn’t typical to what I’ve read. I’m not familiar with animosity in the news/talk show reporting realm. So, story line was different and refreshing.

I also identified with the protagonist- Jolene. The struggle and competition in the work environment are real. I get that.

This is the first mystery I've read whose protagonist is a journalist. I read this in one sitting. The characters were well-portrayed and the plot plausible. Lots of red herrings and a delight to read.

Author Christina Estes writes to show us the lengths human nature will go to for an exclusive story.

You know those ‘take your kid to work’ days? Well, I felt like Estes had taken me to work and shown me behind the scenes of life as a broadcaster in a busy newsroom. What a cutthroat business!

I was rooting for Jolene Garcia (I know, I had the earworm all day, too) to grab control of the situation and report on the story. Countless times my husband looked over as I yelled ‘No way’ or gasped at the methods Jolene used to bring a different angle to the report on the celebrity talk show host's murder. The wonderful characters in addition to the cat and mouse and oneupmanship held my attention. It was interesting how the politics and sexism played out in Jolene taking control of her story. I was unable to predict the murderer and appreciated the red herrings, the ending, and the advance trigger warnings.

For a debut novel, this one feels authentic and hopeful.

There may be a suitcase full of warnings about references to …
✔️abandonment
✔️ageism
✔️animal cruelty
✔️child neglect
✔️classism
✔️homelessness
✔️racism
✔️sexism and sexual coercion
✔️substance abuse

And it may be a work of fiction, but it still contains real references to Phonenix businesses and locations. Regardless, like Jolene, I promise you’ll get more than you bargained for with this cozy mystery centered around investigative reporting.

I was gifted this book by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

A reporter interviews a controversial radio host whose death soon thereafter could just make her career.

Working as a reporter in Phoenix AZ is not terribly glamorous for Jolene (yup, named for the Dolly Parton song) Garcia. In a business that lately values being first more than being right and where social media clicks have become increasingly important, reporters like Jolene who were taught that ethics matter are regularly scooped by counterparts who use their looks, higher visibility and/or moral “flexibility” in pursuit of a news scoop. When local Limbaugh-esque radio talk show host Larry Lemmon drops dead in his studio one day, (possibly poisoned) not long after Jolene had interviewed him, it looks like for once she has an edge on the competition. Not for long, though….she needs to keep fresh new information flowing in if she wants to keep her bosses happy, yet she is being scooped by her local nemesis JJ and even by reporters from her network’s national roster. Her best police source won’t give Jolene any good information on the record, and her frustration at seeing tidbits that she knew but held off from reporting until she could get official confirmation pop up on other news sites coupled with the continual pressure from her superiors to produce new material leads her to be a bit pushier in her approach and to dip her toes into morally ambiguous waters, alienating both her police source and some of her station colleagues. With two ex-wives, a vocal fan base, possible professional rivals and some notable adversaries to his political views, Larry has more than a few people in his life who might have wanted him dead. Can Jolene regain the lead on this story, establish herself as the reporter to beat, and figure out who killed Larry Lemon? Or will the story of a lifetime slip through her fingers?
In this, her first novel, author Christina Estes uses her more than 20 years of experience as a reporter in Arizona to portray the daily realities (good, bad and smelly) of life behind the scenes at a local tv network in the rapidly evolving landscape of news in the social media age. Jolene is a relatable character, dedicated to her job but not the flashiest in the bunch, with some baggage from her past and only a nosy neighbor and a judge-y goldfish waiting for her when she gets home from work. I enjoyed the many snippets of Phoenix that were woven into the story; the background of different neighborhoods’ origins, the quirks of a city that has so many people transplanted from other parts of the country, and more than a few local food references that made me hungry (carne asada fries? Yes, please!). While I had my suspicions as to who killed Larry, the why was a surprise for me when it was revealed. This is not a dark, gritty police procedural; it is instead a story that will appeal to readers of authors like Hank Phillippi Ryan, J. A. Jance and Linda Barnes. It is also a promising start to what could become a series, and I look forward to seeing where Jolene and her circle of friends and sources might go next. Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me access to an advanced reader’ copy of Off the Air.

Jolene Garcia, a reporter for a local TV station in Phoenix, Arizona, is assigned to cover the death of a talk radio host at a radio station. She is ambitious and eager to break the story. However, when another reporter beats her to an interview with a key person and reveals the possibility of poison being involved, Jolene becomes even more determined to be the first to report the news. As the story unfolds, Jolene's ambition leads her to behave unkindly and rudely towards her colleagues and friends, making her a dislikeable character. Despite this, the book offers an intriguing mystery, with numerous suspects and twists. The book follows the typical detective novel tropes, including the annoyed detective friend and the amateur sleuth's bone-headed moves. Overall, the story is enjoyable, but it would have been better if the protagonist were more pleasant and less jealous and unkind.

Off The Air by Christina Estes is a captivating book that provides a fast-paced and cutthroat glimpse into the world of journalism. Inspired by the author's own experience as a professional reporter, the book offers an authentic behind-the-scenes look at the intensity of reporting.The plot keeps readers guessing until the surprising ending, making it an enjoyable and quick read. The book also includes a content advisory listing various sensitive topics, though they are mentioned without excessive detail.

Overall, Off The Air provides an engaging and thrilling story set in the world of journalism. While Jolene's character flaws may make her less likeable, the book still offers a well-rounded mystery with a satisfying conclusion. Readers will appreciate the authenticity and fast pace of the narrative, as well as the behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of reporting.

Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.