I wasn't sure I'd read this one, after reading Death on Tour, the first in the series. It was good, but it didn't really grab me and I found it hard to get excited about the characters. I especially had an issue with Jocelyn's cousin Kyla. So Death Makes the Cut sat on my TBR pile for quite some time before I made myself pick it up today. I'm awfully glad I did - a great improvement in my opinion! Kyla still has moments of shallowness, but she's *much* more likeable and it's now more evident why she's Jocelyn's best friend as well as family. The story line is also greatly enhanced by the introduction of Detective Colin - a romantic interest a person can get excited about! I know Alan is everything that is good and right in a man, but he didn't seem to have that spark of machismo that makes the love interest in these books so interesting. Having said that, I hope this is NOT the beginning of some silly love triangle that is only going to piss me off and turn me off the books.

The murder plot was well done - the suspects are all obvious, but it's never clear exactly who the murderer is until the end. I was pretty sure I knew, but never ready to say "X did it!" definitively. And I wouldn't have been totally correct anyway.

Overall, this book was a lot of fun to read, it kept my attention thoroughly, and I cared very much about how it ended and what happened to the characters. I'm looking forward to the next book. ( )

On the last day of summer vacation history teacher Jocelyn Shore is busy getting her classroom in order awaiting the onslaught of the more than 2000 Austin, Texas teenagers who will be saying goodbye to a hot steamy summer and beginning a new school year. Jocelyn hears the loud voices of what appears to be an abusive confrontation between Fred Argus, fellow teacher as well as the tennis coach and a typical unrealistic parent who thinks his freshman son should be team captain (Really?) and she rushes in where others fear to tread confronting this angry blustering man as if he were an errant school boy himself. This approach is effective and the situation is resolved but aptly named Fred Argus is not behaving in his usual manner and he leaves for home.

The next time Jocelyn saw Fred was on the floor of the tennis shed, lying with his milky white eyes blankly open surrounded by some tennis balls. Fred was on older man in his sixties who was a teacher as a second career. Despite being a coach he was known for his spindly white legs and his two pack a day smoking habit. Jocelyn knew him to be an excellent teacher and she credited him with teaching her more than she learned in all her formal years of education with regard to how to impart knowledge to the teenage mind.

Despite the fact that the police are called it is natural to assume that this death was a natural one and although Jocelyn is deeply saddened the pressing issues of the first day of school is upon then them. Aside from here own classes she is expected to help her look alike cousin Kyla teach a course to girls about technology as part of a community service program. It doesn’t take long for it to become clear that this death is really a murder. Before the day is out she finds that she is also the new interim tennis coach.

But Jocelyn is not too busy to realize that that Fred had been on the trail of some wrong doings and as she begins to investigate she puts herself in danger. The clues are there for the reader to join in the hunt for the murderer. He will murder again before he is through.

This is a lively fast paced story with an excellent cast of characters. The setting is a bit unlike high school as I knew it, but hey, the times they do change. It may help that I read it at this time of year but I felt the sweltering Texas ambience like I was there. The characters have developing nice backgrounds which were introduced in the first of the series DEATH ON TOUR
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Jocelyn is home in Austin preparing for the start of a new school year. One of her favorite history teachers is also the tennis coach and is known to everyone as Coach Fred. Fred has been teaching and coaching for years and is known to be loved by pretty much everyone. So when he turns up dead, everyone assumes that it is natural causes (Fred was a major smoker). But when evidence shows that Fred was murdered and that drugs might be involved, Jocelyn is determined to find the murderer and clear Fred's name of any scandal.

This was an excellent cozy. Jocelyn and her cousin Kyla are a hoot. We get to meet a whole cast of characters from the school, students, teachers and administration. We also have a new hunk in the form of an Austin detective. So much is going on but not so much you can't keep it straight. There is some action and romance. It really has just about everything. Now I have to wait for the next one. ( )

Janice's Hamrick's second Jocelyn Shore mystery is as good as the first, although very different in place and tone. This time, Jocelyn has returned home to Austin, TX after her world tour of Egypt, ready to begin a new school year. As everyone readies for the beginning of school, fellow teacher and tennis coach Fred Argus is found dead right on the school campus. Jocelyn is determined to find out what happened to her co-worker. Her cousin Kyla remains a great side-kick for Jocelyn and some new characters (and a certain police detective) in Austin make me hope this series will continue with all of them. A great read! ( )