This was fun without being as silly as I half-expected. Mother-Daughter Murder Night was released this week and I decided on the spur of the moment that I just needed another mystery now.  It seemed to have gotten good customer reviews and I know I saw one blog which appreciated it, maybe two.  I usually glance at reviews, but really try not to actually read more than necessary prior to reading the book. I do NOT like spoilers. But I enjoy reviews after reading a book to see what others thought of it.  And there won’t be any spoilers in my blog without plenty of warning. 

Mother-Daughter Murder Night 
by Nina Simon
9/2023 
Read by Jane Oppenheimer 12h 38m
Rating; A- / mystery 

This debut novel is set in the beautiful and fertile as well as aquatic life-filled seaside area of Elkhart Slough about 30 miles south of Santa Cruz in California,

Beth Rubicon’s 15-year old daughter, Jacqueline “Jack,” is glad to suddenly share her very small but cozy home with Beth’s somewhat flamboyant. LA-realtor mother, Lana. Beth herself wouldn’t be so sure, but Lana has just been diagnosed with brain cancer and is staying in Jack’s bedroom while undergoing treatment at Stanford Medical Center the nearby Beth is an RN at a local nursing home and has the knowledge, skills and connections, or access to them, to help her mother, whom she calls, “Ma.” Although they are not estranged, Beth and Lana have had a difficult relationship, but Jack loves and gets along easily with both of them and they both love her dearly. There are no fathers, husbands or even boyfriends in the picture for any of them. These are two very independent women with another one growing up. (Explore the links to see how big the slough is and how much goes on there. it’s a real place and rather difficult to describe being barely outside the main Bay Area.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkhorn_Slough

A few days into Lana’s stay a dead body is found in the slough where Jack, a freshman or sophomore in high school, gives tours for a small kayak shop. She’s a great kayaker and nature lover herself, and in ways a budding scientist. Before long there is a second death, this time in the nursing home where Beth works, and some less than cordial detectives show up about the slough murder.  

I had such high hopes for this book and it started out great – excellent setting, (I’m kind of familiar with it), some very likable characters, fun dialogue, etc.  And then suddenly there were too many characters and I wished I had kept a character list as I frequently do, but it was too late to start over. I really plugged into this novel because the relationships are so compelling (and I’m not a. relationship reader). Besides, the general plot and most of the other characters were fine, only paling against the exceptionally well-drawn primary characters, Lana, Beth and Jack. And now that we have those primary characters and the setting in place, I wouldn’t mind seeing a series here.  🙂

Happy reading, 

Becky