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Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: Amateur detective

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

Number of Pages: 357

Setting: California Coast

Time Period: Current

Series: none

Subject Heading: murder fiction; murder investigation fiction, mother and daughters fiction

Three Descriptive Terms: Witty, Twisty, Relational

Plot Summary:

Mother-Daughter Murder Night is narrated by three women. First, there is Lana Rubicon, a strong self-made L.A. real estate mogul. Her daughter, Beth, leads a quiet life working at a senior living facility in a small town far north of Los Angeles. Lana's granddaughter, Jack, is a high-school student who also works as a kayak tour guide.  Lana has been diagnosed with cancer and forced to step out of her fast-paced world and move in with Beth and Jack in their modest bungalow. Not long after she arrives, Jack discovers a dead body while out on a kayak tour and becomes a person-of-interest in the police investigation. Lana, already bored with convalescent life, jumps into the investigation determined to exonerate her granddaughter by finding the actual killer. The death of one of Beth's patients seems to be related to the first murder, connected by the land where the body was found, so Lana ropes Beth into doing some investigation as well. All this to the chagrin of the local police. As the title suggests, this twisty search for a killer and the motivation behind it draw the women together, healing the rifts that previously kept them apart.

Mystery Appeal Factors:

Storyline - Mother-Daughter Murder Night follows the classic mystery outline of a crime and the subsequent investigation.  

Frame/Setting: The frame for this mystery is a relationship issue, namely the rift between Lana and her daughter.  Each of their vocations play a part in finding clues for the investigation. The setting on the coastal waterways adds an environmental frame to the story as well.

Tone: This story falls in the cozy mystery category because it is gentle rather than dark and grisly. But it is not overly silly or unbelievable either.

Pacing:  While the pacing is not at the breakneck speed of a thriller, the reader is strung along as clues and twists are revealed frequently enough to keep the pages turning.

Mystery Read-Alikes:

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is similar in that the investigation is led by elderly amateur sleuths and it has an intricate plot. The way the amateur sleuths insert themselves into the investigation and annoy the local police is another similarity.

 The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood takes place in England but shares
the elderly amateur sleuth character, light tone, and intricate plot with Mother-Daughter Murder Night.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutano shares the likeable, elderly amateur sleuth, a California setting, and an intricate plot with Mother-Daughter Murder Night. They also sport similar book covers!

Non-ficiton Suggested Reads:

Fear is Just a Word by Azam Ahmed is a true crime non-fiction book that shares the strong female lead character and relational aspect of this story.  The tone is darker, but it tells the story of a mother seeking justice by bringing about the arrest her daughter's murderer.

Other Genre Suggestions:

Relational Fiction - The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev is the story of three generation of women living together (and simultaneously misunderstanding each other) and is similar in tone to Mother-Daughter Murder Night, but is not centered around a murder investigation.

Literary Fiction - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is more serious in tone, but shares the coastal setting and environmental theme. There is a murder investigation in which the main character is a person-of-interest just as Jack is in Mother-Daughter Murder Night, but it is secondary to the coming-of-age plot.

Thriller - The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth also focuses on strained relationships between two generations of women as the frame around the plot of a murder investigation, but this one is more serious and faster-paced.

Sources:

Novelist. (n.d.). https://www.ebsco.com/novelist

Wyatt, N, & Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.

 

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