MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT

Sleuthing is a family affair in this novel featuring strong women and even stronger motives for murder.

When teenage Jack Rubicon becomes the prime suspect following the discovery of a body in Monterey Bay’s Elkhorn Slough, her mother, Beth, and grandmother Lana step in to prove she’s innocent. Mother-daughter bonding rituals don’t usually include criminal investigations, but in this by-the-book, well-paced debut crime novel, three independent women morph into amateur sleuths to solve the murder of Ricardo Cruz, a young man who worked for a local land trust. At the time of Ricardo’s death, Lana is living with Beth and Jack while she undergoes cancer treatment. An energetic Los Angeles real estate mogul who doesn't “ ‘do’ sick,” the antsy Lana sets up a murder board and decides to pass the time gathering evidence about Ricardo’s death. Beth and Lana have been on the outs ever since Beth became a single mother 15 years before. They’d once had a good relationship, and one of Beth’s fondest childhood memories involves the nights she and Lana obsessed over episodes of Columbo, trying to ferret out the identity of the murderers. Having learned that rumpled detective’s crime-solving techniques will soon prove invaluable when Beth and Jack are pulled into the investigation as well. They soon discover another suspicious death tied to a wealthy local family fighting over the fate of a multimillion-dollar ranch on the Monterey coast. Simon puts most of her muscle into developing Lana’s character while Beth and Jack, as likable as they are, aren’t as fully drawn. Simon knows how to build an intriguing plot with lots of suspects, plenty of red herrings, and a handful of jaw-clenching attacks on the Rubicons designed to stop their investigation.

Nancy Drew meets Columbo in this feisty-female–driven whodunit.