Name: The Daydreamer Detective
ISBN: 9781940599267

S. J. Pajonas

A Miso Cozy Mystery

The Daydreamer Detective

Kelsey Lynn

I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

S.J Pajonas' 'The Daydreamer Detective' was an unexpectedly fun read. The story revolves around a 26 year old, Mei, returning home to her country town after losing her job in the city. She reluctantly returns home to figure her life out and gets wrapped up in investigating a death that happens the day of her return. Even though this is a mystery, the book is more about Mei coming to terms with herself, her life, and what she wants from it.
 Pros: 
Interesting and believable characters that were enjoyable to read. 
Not over the top but well written romance, without silly love triangles.
Writing that is well paced and enjoyable, quick and fun read. 
consistently written and believable town building. 

 Cons:
Mystery could have used a few more twists. 
Pacing and attention wasn't consistent with all characters.
Sometimes there were too many Japanese words that weren't necessary 

What I really loved about this book is that it read like a kdrama (or JDrama in this case) but less over the top. The banter between the characters and the pacing of the events in the story made it such an easy read that I kept looking forward to reading more of. There was the cool romantic interest, the main character that underestimates her value, the quirky and strong mother and even the childhood friends. I wanted to watch this show. I found myself in Mei and wanting to see her figure herself out and the mystery out. The book balanced her finding herself with the mystery well, and it never focused on one too long. 

 I only had a few issues with the book. The primary one was that the pacing and great characters weren't consistent with all of the characters. There were few background characters that almost disappeared as quickly as they came, even though it seemed like they were supposed tone part of the mystery. 
The mystery, while satisfying , was quick and slightly predictable. I wish it had had a few more twists and a little more depth. It went to the back burner a bit, but this actually helped bring Mei's finding herself to the forefront .
 The third thing is a nitpick. As a Japanophile, I know some Japanese and found the overuse of Japanese words for simple things with obvious English equivalents a little more on the " look I know these word's and less this in Japan. Certain ones didn't have English equivalents, kotatsu for instance, and I didn't mind those. Luckily this began to lessen as the story progressed.

Oh and one other nitpick. One I have with a lot of modern books. It unfortunately dates the book like crazy to mention things like Skype or Twitter or YouTube. In 10 years or more those things might not be around, say things like videochat instead, that way your book will always be relevant and no future person will read it and laugh, or have no idea what you're talking about. 

Other than that I really really liked this book, and can't wait to read the next one. I thank the author so much for the ARC and for writing such a fun and enjoyable book.

The Daydreamer Detective A Miso Cozy Mystery

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