07/10/2023

Three women bond while investigating a homicide in Simon’s spirited debut. Lana Rubicon and her 17-year-old daughter, Beth, become estranged when Beth gets pregnant and relocates five hours north of Los Angeles to raise her baby alone. Fifteen years later, Lana is a high-powered L.A. real estate developer, and Beth is a nurse who shares a humble cottage in Elkhorn Slough with her now-teenage daughter, Jack. Though Lana has always refused to visit Beth and Jack’s “shack about to fall into a mud pit,” she moves in while undergoing treatment for cancer. Four months of cohabitation do nothing to curb her feelings of uselessness and alienation from her daughter and granddaughter, however. Then, a kayak tour led by Jack comes across naturalist Ricardo Cruz’s floating corpse. Racist local police target Jack—who’s half Filipino on her father’s side—based on the flimsy testimony of one of her clients, and Lana resolves to exonerate her granddaughter and reconnect with Beth in the process. Simon stocks her layered plot with plausibly motivated suspects and convincing red herrings, but it’s her indomitable female characters and their nuanced relationships that give this mystery its spark. Readers will be delighted. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Sept.)

Simon’s dazzling debut delivers everything a mystery fan could crave, including a realistically nuanced cast of characters, a vividly evoked coastal California setting, writing imbued with a deliciously desiccated sense of wit, and a perfectly plotted murder with enough red herrings deftly dropped in to confound the most experienced mystery reader. Insightful and frequently funny analysis of family dynamics wrapped up in a cleverly crafted cozy crime novel.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Three women bond while investigating a homicide in Simon’s spirited debut…. Simon stocks her layered plot with plausibly motivated suspects and convincing red herrings, but it’s her indomitable female characters and their nuanced relationships that give this mystery its spark. Readers will be delighted.” — Publishers Weekly

“Nina Simon's Mother-Daughter Murder Night is the rarest of novels. A lively and tender story of family that Simon deftly transforms into an edge-of-your-seat murder mystery set against the polarizing backdrop of land conservation, no novel has ever made family drama (or murder) this much fun. One part The Maid and one part family drama à la The Nest, Mother-Daughter Murder Night is a resounding and impressive triumph. I fell in love with Tiny, Lana, and Beth immediately, and so will you.” — Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters

“As a reader, I inhaled this book hungrily, captivated by the truly delightful characters that Simon has created. The relationship between Lana and Beth is perfectly complex—both hilarious, heartwarming, and frustrating because of how real it was. As an author, the writing made me clench my fist and go, "How dare a debut be THIS GOOD?"  — Jesse Q. Sutanto, national bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

"Sleuthing is a family affair in this novel featuring strong women and even stronger motives for murder…. 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." — Kirkus Reviews

“Nina Simon's wildly entertaining debut mystery Mother-Daughter Murder Night is an ode to strong women everywhere. The coastal California setting, complete with a bootleg drive-in and the aptly named 'Kayak Shack,' serves as the perfect proving grounds for the fiercely independent Rubicon women. I sure hope to see Lana, Beth, and Jack in many more books to come.” — Eli Cranor, author of Don't Know Tough and Ozark Dogs  

“Mother-Daughter Murder Night is the perfect mix of family drama and murder mystery. Nina Simon’s debut is a spot-on look at the complicated relationship between parents and their children. I can’t wait to spend even more nights with her characters. Simon is a writer to watch.” — Kellye Garrett, award-winning author of Like a Sister

"Equal parts charming and chilling: a fine mystery." — Benjamin Stevenson, author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

"As much a story about the complicated love between a mother and daughter as it is a sublime whodunnit, Nina Simon's Mother-Daughter Murder Night is sure to enthrall any reader who likes their mystery with equal doses of humor, family intrigue, and surprises." — Rob Osler, MWA Award-winning author of Devil’s Chew Toy

“On the cozy side, this debut mystery is woven around family rifts and redemption, and will leave readers with warm fuzzies.” — Booklist

★ 09/01/2023

DEBUT One of the things Beth regrets most in life is that she doesn't have a closer relationship with her mother, Lana Rubicon. That all changes, however, when Lana is forced to take a hiatus from her high-powered Los Angeles real-estate career to deal with cancer and subsequently moves in with Beth and her granddaughter Jack. When Jack stumbles across a dead body while leading a kayaking tour of the nearby slough and becomes the local police's main suspect, Lana finds another way of engaging with her daughter and granddaughter by doing a bit of snooping. Can it really be true that the family that sleuths together, stays together? Simon's dazzling debut delivers everything a mystery fan could crave, including a realistically nuanced cast of characters, a vividly evoked coastal California setting, writing imbued with a deliciously desiccated sense of wit, and a perfectly plotted murder with enough red herrings deftly dropped in to confound the most experienced mystery reader. VERDICT Insightful and frequently funny analysis of family dynamics wrapped up in a cleverly crafted cozy crime novel.—John Charles

This funny, touching character-driven mystery is superbly narrated by Jane Oppenheimer. The story is anchored by three strong female characters: Los Angeles real estate mogul Lana Rubicon; her adult daughter, Beth, with whom Lana has a prickly relationship; and Beth's teenage daughter, Jack. Lana is diagnosed with cancer and moves in with Beth and Jack in their small-town home. Then Jack finds a body. Oppenheimer is outstanding. She captures the story's humor without being cutesy or cloying and does not falter in her portrayals of the three main characters or the story's secondary characters. She is appropriately and realistically expressive. Sometimes her voice is just slightly rough, especially at the end of sentences. Oppenheimer's fine performance adds to the fun of this story. G.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

2023-06-08
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.