In the appealing Mother-Daughter Murder Night, first-time novelist Nina Simon integrates spirited family dynamics with the intricacies of a complex whodunnit. Three generations of women come together under one roof in a little house in Elkhorn Slough, a coastal town in Monterey Bay, Calif. This all occurs 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, who is from Santa Monica, come and live with her and her 15-year-old daughter, Jack, Lana's granddaughter.
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. The strong and fiercely independent mother and daughter, navigating the emotional minefield of Lana's present illness and trigger points from the past, are forced to bury the hatchet when a young man who works for a local land trust is found murdered. The ensuing police investigation draws Jack, a kayak tour guide, into the list of suspects, and Beth and Lana, who once shared a passion for watching the crime drama Columbo, 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.
This skillfully crafted multigenerational study of disparate characters will keep mystery readers guessing with its surprising, immensely well-plotted crimes and clues. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines