Breakfast at Timothy’s

by Richard Tyler Jordan

Fresh-out-of-college aspiring novelist Timothy Trousdale can hardly believe his good luck when he lands a job in New York City as a live-in assistant to his all-time favorite showbiz diva, Mercedes Ford. He’s seen all her movies. Spent oodles on tickets to her Broadway shows. And now, he gets to live and work in her swanky Tribeca penthouse. Surely, he’ll be leading the glamorous life rubbing elbows with A-Listers, who may even be able to help him fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a famous writer. But rats …
after just a few days on the job, Mercedes’ odious manager, Jared Evans, is found dead. Murdered, actually. And Timothy is a suspect!

Timothy had better find the real killer, and fast; otherwise, it’s bye-bye to ever seeing his name on the New York Times Bestsellers List and hello to a stretch of 25-to-life in the slammer. And that great guy he’s just started dating? Who’d ever want to get involved with someone whose address is The New York Penitentiary for Blood-thirsty Killers and Maniacs for crying out loud? Desperate to keep his life from completely shattering into a gazillion shards, Timothy sets out to worm the truth from an oddball cast of characters—including a sourpuss housekeeper, a vindictive former employee, a wacko Brit with delusions of grandeur, and even Mercedes’ unfaithful toy boy husband. Each of them may hold the keys to unlocking the mystery. Timothy is caught in a seemingly inescapable trap and must fight to save himself—and his favorite movie star, too.

311 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 2023

Reviews

[PaperMoon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really really wanted to like this but nothing about Timothy or any of the secondary characters appealed to me. The murder/mystery aspects of the plot didn't eventuate until nearly the mid-way point; too much excessive detail in setting up the characters to be potential victim and suspects IMO.
One or two (out of several) annoying editing oversights gave rise to amusement inadvertently e.g. "The Tuesday guys are here," she said, giving a raised eyebrow and approving nod to Timothy's shitless, slender torso. Just 2.5 stars tops.

[Joyffree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Timothy. That man tried so hard.
His inner musings and slightly sarcastic sense of humor just made him that much more endearing

He thought he had found his golden ticket in life. Turns out it was 10-carat fool-plated, and he was the fool.

This was strangely addicting, despite how long it took to get to the good stuff.
I wanted:
To know if Timothy would still be standing in the end (if there was a road bump somehow he found it)
What was in the folders? (I would have opened them the first day lol)
Who Fabiola really was?
The story and the characters were a blast.
Again, my reason for just liking and not loving it was the abundance of details that at times bogged the story down.

The characters made this story like
Timothy with a heart of gold
The housekeeper/space holder Fabiola was a snarky ball of fun
Jared the self-proclaimed man of importance who was nothing but hot air
Mr. Slater the adoring younger husband (or not)
Mercedes, the living angel amongst mere mortals
And so many more, like Max

Everyone has an agenda
Well except Jared - he had an agenda
Can Timothy prove that his agenda was not murder?

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

2.75 stars

I found this story just okay. The blurb described a cozy mystery, but the execution didn’t quite match up, for me. The pace is really slow, and Timothy, who is admittedly young, naive, and broke, doesn’t read as his supposed age at all. I’m not sure I’ve read any cozies with 23-year-old sleuths, but Timothy’s so hapless and self-oriented, I was kind of shocked he had any awareness to be suspicious of Jared’s death, at all. It took him more than a week to “discover” that his roommate in the penthouse isn’t a live-in housekeeper at all. His turns of phrase and metaphors gave off a vibe of someone two decades older than he is purported to be, and that continually drew me away from the story.

Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.

[Wide Eyes, Big Ears! · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Timothy Trousdale lands a live-in job as PA to a world famous actress in NYC, it seems like a dream come true—for about 5 seconds. The household is full of secrets, the apartment cook / cleaner appears to do nothing, and Jared, Timothy’s boss, is a totally aggressive nightmare: he finds fault in everything Timothy does, he berates him constantly, and he make unreasonable demands of Timothy at any time of the day. Jared appears to be hated by everyone he deals with so it’s no great surprise when he winds up dead. Timothy and his cute piano tuning boyfriend don’t believe it’s an accident and they set out to find Jared’s killer if only to clear Timothy’s name.

I liked the humour in this cozy mystery, although I was appalled by Timothy’s terrible working conditions. Timothy is young and immature, full of self-doubt, and he keeps screwing up. But his heart is in the right place and he improves as a person over the story. Romance readers may be a little unsatisfied: while there is a PG romance arc, the mystery takes up most of the story. I hope this will become a series because I like Timothy and hope to see more of him. 🎧 Braden Wright is a new narrator to me and I really enjoyed his performance in the audio!

[Mme Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

where do I begin?
I DNFed at around 70%
The book has a lot of potential but that is not a romance so I have no idea why it was advertised as such. We have 4 scenes with the love interest in the 70% I read, one of which was a date with no idea what they talked about. a second date with a kiss? then glimpses of "we made out". I have no idea why they're attracted to each other, i have no idea as to why they're dating and both have the personnality of a cardboard, the only thing we know about the love interest is that he's a piano tuner. Hell, even Timothy's roommate has a backstory.

Now about the intrigue, I have no idea how we got here. How they didn't smell a dead body, how a dead body didn't decompose, in the blurb the author says Timothy is a suspect except he's a suspect for exactly 3 sentences before the death is ruled an accident. He decides to investigate a man he hates (well technically everyone hates him). Then apparently that man has a soft side because he sometimes gave umbrellas to homeless people... what? the whole thing is nonsensical so I decided to cut my losses and preserve the little grey matter that I still have in my brain.

[James W · Rating 2 out of 5]

Until the death of Jared, the book is quite slow. Everything is driven by your empathy for the main character, Timothy, who doesn’t really have much going for him except a few fun scenes of humor. I honestly echoed Jared’s words given that Timothy never actively worked towards his writing dreams.

Without giving away the ending, let’s just say that the book didn’t have any twists or even any good romance scenes. In fact, the main love interest, Brad, feels persona-less. He has nothing to define him or make him more human and the insta-love just because he wears rainbow underwear, plays the piano, and knows obscure songs.

Sure, there are a few instances where Timothy’s sarcastic humor is interesting, but for the most part, you have to put up with a man who just skirts through life.

[Ida Umphers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in the mood for a mystery that focused on an amateur detective tossed into a murder, in a world they didn't understand all the nuances of and full of characters that were just that little bit over the top and quirky but still believable as murderers. Putting new graduate and aspiring writer Timothy into this mix of actors, writers and big money folks where he initially desperately wants to belong then letting him see that all that glitters isn't gold made for a fun read that just hit the spot.

[Juniper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise here drew me in from the start: how does one not want to watch an aspiring novelist/new college grad with big dreams’ brush with glamor turn into a murder mystery? The characters are super interesting, the pacing is slow enough to appreciate each development as it emerges, and the overall effect is one is a book that’s really hard to put down– well worth checking out.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

[DLB2572 · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the Fence

Ok so the overall story was ok but it takes nearly half the book to get to Timothy's issues pointed out in the blurb. It was just a bit long getting there for me. I am glad I read it though.

I received an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion

[Michelle Staples · Rating 2 out of 5]

safe for work