SCOT MIST

A dark comedy of death and Covid-19.

Scottish marriage therapist Lexy Campbell moved to Southern California to marry, then divorce, a dentist who involved her in crime solving. Now she lives on a houseboat moored behind the Last Ditch Motel, which is about to become a haven for a mismatched bunch who take shelter there during California’s pandemic-induced shutdown. Lexy is already close to the wacky motel denizens, who are now inviting friends and relatives to stay. Permanent resident Roger Kroger is a physician who’s offered his motel room to Blaine Temple and her two kids while he stays at their house with fellow doctor Philip Temple as the two of them work long hours at the hospital. Taylor, Lexy’s ornithologist boyfriend, moves in with her to make room for his blind mother to stay in his room at the motel. Then there are some unrelated guests: Meera Flynn is leaving behind an abusive husband, a cop who doesn’t take kindly to her having escaped. Information technology expert Arif Jafari is a trans man with an abusive wife. All of them are still slowly working out new routines when Lexy finds Blaine’s room spattered in blood, her children screaming in fear, and no sign of Blaine. Lexy has dealt with Sgt. Molly Rankinson before, and they’re not the best of friends, but that doesn’t stop Molly from moving in and questioning everyone in the motel once Blaine’s body is found. Lexy and her friends, who have inside information about the activities of the motel guests, do some sleuthing of their own in a race to catch the killer.

Plenty of suspects and mordant humor against a background of pandemic paranoia.