In Mother-Daughter Murder Night, first time novelist Nina Simon appealingly integrates spirited family dynamics with the intricacies of a complex whodunnit.
Three generations of women shack up together in
a little house in Elkhorn Slough, a coastal town in Monterey Bay, Calif. This
all comes about when family matriarch, Lana Rubicon--a 57-year-old, take-charge
real estate mogul--faces an advanced cancer diagnosis. While undergoing
treatment, her daughter, Beth, a geriatric nurse, insists that Lana, from Santa
Monica, come and live with her and her daughter, Lana’s granddaughter,
15-year-old “Jack.” Lana and Beth’s contentious relationship had been riddled
with angst ever since Lana became a single mother when Beth was just a
rebellious teenager. Navigating the emotional minefield of Lana’s present
illness and trigger points from the past, the strong, fiercely independent,
mother and daughter are forced to bury the hatchet when a young man who works
for a local land trust is found murdered. When the police investigation draws
Jack, a kayak tour guide, into the list of suspects, Beth and Lana, who
long-ago shared a passion for watching Columbo TV crime stories, put
their amateur detective skills to work. They become determined to exonerate
Jack and root out the real killer—but not before another murder takes place
that ups the ante.
Simon has skillfully crafted a
multi-generational study of disparate characters where surprising, immensely well-plotted crimes
and clues will keep mystery readers
guessing.
Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Novel by
Nina Simon
William Morrow, $30.00 hardcover, 9780063315044, 368 pages
Publishing
Date: September 5, 2023
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NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (September 8, 2023), link HERE