I'm stepping out of my romance/sci-fi/fantasy wheelhouse to read Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon. The title is excellent, as is the cover, but (full disclosure) I wouldn't have requested the ARC if I hadn't had professional connections (and been social media mutuals in some places) with the author, because I don't usually read mystery!

That said... this is such a good book! Centering on three generations of women - tough-as-nails real estate developer (and grandmother) Lana, single mother Beth who's built a life from the ground up, and teenager Jack, who gets caught up in a murder investigation after discovering a body in the course job as a kayak tour guide. Beth has built a life with Jack on the Elkhorn Slough (which is brought to life beautifully in this book - it's another character) and find it turned sideways when Lana comes to live with them as she's going through cancer treatment.

There are two threads to this story: the murder mystery, complete with multiple suspects with shady motivations, a mansion on a hill, and a spot of arson. But it's the story of these three women - how they navigate their new reality and how Lana and Beth build a new understanding of who they are in relation to each other but most of all how they support each other - that makes this book stand out.

Absolutely worth your time.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow publishing for the eARC!

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️ (rounded up to 4)

This one started off strong for me. We were thrown into the thick of the drama pretty early on & it immediately got my attention. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs so that we got to see the plot unfold from all 3 women’s perspective. I loved Lana & watching her relationship with her daughter & granddaughter grow & develop throughout the book. This story did a very good job of casting suspicion on almost everyone & I truly wasn’t really sure who the murderer was until the end! However, this story is very much a slow burn mystery & some parts in the middle lost me a little bit. Some of the talks about the land were hard for me to follow with a lot of technical terms (but that may just be me😅). It kind of drug in the middle but really picked up during the last 30%! If you enjoy cozy mysteries then you should definitely pick this one up!

This ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I just loved this book! Every time I thought it was leaning one way, another clue would point you in a different direction. By the time you are 75% in, you think any of the characters could have played a part. Well done, Nina Simon!

Lana Rubicon is a force to be reckoned with in the cut throat real estate market in Los Angeles, but a medical condition sidelines her to live with her daughter, Beth, and granddaughter, Jack, in a small coastal town 300 miles away. The three, who enjoy watching Columbo together for "Mother-Daughter Murder Night" marathons, find themselves entwined in a complicated web of murder and lies. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Cindy Burnett at Thoughts From a Page and William Morrow for the advanced ecopy of this book - due to be published on 9/5/2023.

3.75 stars

This mystery was a bit different. It features three generations of a family that gets swept up by a murder investigation. Grandmother Lana is a tough and elegant L.A. power player. She is battling cancer and has moved in with her grown daughter and teenage granddaughter far away from the city and her comfort zone.

Lana is admirable but not likable. There’s not much warmth there and no nurturing, which explains a lot of her prickly relationship with daughter Beth. But she is smart and savvy and a formidable opponent. Beth is more of a laid back earth mother type. She is artistic, loving and honest. She works in the medical field in a retirement home and tries to be the kind of mother to her daughter Jacqueline (Jack) that she wished she had.

When Jack discovers a dead boy floating in the water while working her part-time job as a kayak guide, their household comes unglued. Lana, who is feeling puny and irrelevant and totally out of her element, takes on the murder investigation as a crusade. Her original motive is to protect her granddaughter but it is obvious she is bored and needs to prove something to herself and her family.

A realistic and often funny look at a family with all their baggage and bonds of love and exasperation. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night stars the feminine trio of Lana-Beth-Jack (aka the grandmother, the mother, and the daughter) as they work together to solve a murder mystery in a coastal town north of Los Angeles. The author's love of the water and the natural world grounds the story, and I would go so far as to say that the natural setting itself is a central character in the unraveling of the mystery. I really liked Jack's independence and competence on the water despite her youth. She is a refreshing and believable young woman. Lana is also a strong character even though her maternal qualities leave a lot to be desired. Lana's cancer treatment brings the three women together, and their physical and emotional compromises in sharing a home and tending to one another are heartfelt.

Gilmore Girls + Only Murders in the Building
Thank you, William Morrow, for the gifted copy of Mother-Daughter Murder Night {partner}

Genre: Mystery
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date: 9.5.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

“You have to love yourself the most. No one else can do that for you.”

For a debut novel, I was impressed with the story that Nina Simon created. I hope Simon decides to write something else around the Rubicon ladies because I’m all for three generations of women coming together to solve a mystery and protect their town.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night falls into the slow burn category for me - there were places where the pacing felt too slow and struggled to hold my attention. Still, others had me flipping the pages quickly because I needed to know what was happening. But it was still an entertaining read!

Lana was undoubtedly my favorite character. She was quirky, witty, and fiercely protective of her daughter/granddaughter (even if she didn’t show it in the best ways). Nina Simon captured the often precarious nature of mother-daughter relationships perfectly! It had me laughing in all the right places as I pictured the three Rubicon women staring one another down because each was too stubborn to admit that the other was correct.

🌊 Seaside Town
🌎 Environmental Protection Themes
🔍 Classic Whodunnit
🫣 Mother-Daughter Dynamics

I recommend reading Mother-Daughter Murder Night if you enjoy reading the Finlay Donovan series.

My thanks to Net Galley,William Morrow and Thoughts From a Page for an advanced copy of this e-book.

Lana Rubicon has a very successful real estate business in Los Angeles, but has suddenly found out she has lung cancer. She reluctantly calls her estranged daughter Beth and who flies down to pick her up and bring her back to the Monterrey Bay area for the best care. She moves her 15 year old daughter Jack (short for Jacqueline) to the sofa and puts her mom in that room. Thus begins the fun of watching a powerful controlling women take control in her daughter's home with much push back from Beth. I did find some humor in the relationship struggles!

One night when Lana can't sleep, she looks across the slough and sees what looks a farmer pushing a wheelbarrow with a person in it.....and then dumping it in the water! Two days later, Jack, who works for the Kayak Shack, is leading a kayak group on the slough and one of her clients sees a dead body floating in the water. Thus begins a grandmother-granddaughter sleuth team!

I truly enjoyed these characters, the murder mystery that kept me turning pages and guessing to the end, and the relationship between this grandmother-mother-daughter team. Don't miss the Author's Note at the end! It will warm your heart!

This is the author’s debut for thriller/mystery and that is fantastic. I like the dynamic of the women in the story. Three generations… three independent thinkers plus a mystery solve? what could go wrong?
Well, at one point I DNFd this a quarter of the book but decided to push through. It went a bit slowww for me. Story was ok but not totally gripping.

A welcome new addition to the contemporary cozy mystery genre! Thoughtful and nicely complicated, I enjoyed the book.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night was a cozy murder mystery. Despite this genre being a rare read for me, this novel was engaging and easy to get into.
The three generations of women: Jack, Beth, and Lana were fun and quirky.
The grandmother, mother, and daughter enjoyed watching mysteries together and now that murder happened in this small, sleepy town, they’re in the thick of an investigation. The author brought forth the topic of land values and the lengths people go through to keep their land, which I thought was interesting.
My critiques are how the police conducted the investigation, such that, they would share their findings with Lana (the grandmother). To avoid providing spoilers, I had to suspend disbelief throughout the novel.
This novel is perfect if:
- you love cozy murder mysteries
- You have an interest in real estate and property development
- You enjoy strong generations of woman working together for the greater good

Thank you to Cindy Burnett with the Thoughts From from a Page podcast / page turners Patreon group for arranging ARC copies. Thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Nina Simon, and William Morrow for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

New to the world of Nina Simon, I was pleased when given an ARC of the novel. The story worked well—with Simon using her mother to shape and vet ideas— and had elements of greatness througout. When a man turns up dead in the water, all eyes turn to young Jacqueline ‘Jack’ Rubicon, though it is her grandmother, Lana, whose recent illness leaves her with a great deal of time to investigate. Working alongside her own daughter, Beth, they peddle together what might have happened and notice that there were some eerie connections with a piece of land in the area, which could open up new motives. Nina Simon does well with this piece and will surely have me coming back for the next instalment or standalone thriller.

Lana Rubicon is a powerful woman in the L.A. real-estate market. Known to many, Lana is worried when she finds herself diagnosed with cancer and stuck in a small California community to convalesce with her daughter, Beth, and granddaughter Jacqueline—who prefers the hip moniker ‘Jack’. When Jack discovers a body while working for a kayak tour establishment, all eyes turn to her as a suspect. The victim was supposed to be on one of Jack’s tours, but no one has any record of it. The Rubicon women are thrown into chaos, as the police begin nosing around and asking the tough questions.

With little to do except protect her family, Lana decides to find the true killer and bide her time. When one of Beth;’s patients at the local senior’s home passes on, Lana thinks that there might be something to it, as the man was once the owner of a large tract of land. Lana discovers some interesting connections about how the land was to be used by his children, which also ties in with the victim of the boating incident. Could these multiple murders connects it all together?

As Lana makes progress, her own life is put in danger, which only lures Beth into helping as best she can. As Lana, Beth, and Jack all work their own angles on the case, things get both a lot clearer and more muddied. The killer is out there, but nothing can be determined until the clues come together. This is sure to be a great effort and the Rubicon women are ready for anything that is tossed at them, even if it means putting themselves in danger. A great piece by Nina Simon that will keep the reader up well into the night.

When asked to read this ARC, I was not sure what I ought to expect. A mother-daughter amateur investigation team could have some real potential, or it could fall flat and end up being more about the inner connection of family. Nina Simon tackles a great deal with this piece and succeeded tremendously, offering up not only the connection of three generations, but also a strong mystery that persists throughout the narrative. The foundation proves strong and the rest of the story builds on it, effectively luring the reader in and keeping them on task throughout. The characters that emerge here are both relatable and worth a deeper look, which I can only hope they will be given the chance to do in future novels. Three generations of Rubicon women emerge, each with their own passions and characteristics, which helps the reader see the similarities and contrasts in equal measure. Strong plots develop throughout and solve themselves as the story progresses. There is a mystery and some subplot that’s keep things on task, perfect for the reader who likes variety. I can only hope that Nina Simon has more in store for her core three, though anything is possible with how things turned up at the end.

Kudos, Madam Simon, for a great piece of writing that had me eager to push through at every page turn.

I am probably an outlier on this one, given all of the pretty stellar reviews that I have seen. Indeed, it is a well-written novel with a unique premise (three generations of closely-knit women — Lana, Beth and Jack — work together on solving a murder), but it fell somewhat flat for me. Although I enjoyed the quirky characters and the family dynamics involved in the storyline, I found the plot pretty slow going and not all that exciting (and really no big twist and turns). Nonetheless, I did like this novel overall and think it is a very decent debut. I look forward to reading the next from this author.

A fun, fresh, and twisty debut whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio who come together as amateur sleuths to solve a murder in their coastal California town.

In the story we get Lana, the matriarch of the family who has recently been diagnosed with cancer and moves back in with her estranged daughter and granddaughter to get help with her treatments. While the cancer is what brings them back together, it is the body found in the slough near their home that sets them off on trying to find out what happened.

This was a fun mystery to investigate alongside Lana, Beth and granddaughter Jack as they try and ‘assist’ the police in solving not one but two murders, all the while getting caught up in illicit grow operations, complicated land trust negotiations, and trying to stay ahead of the murderer. There were lots of different characters with motive and opportunity, and enough twists to keep me invested. The town atmosphere was great and the supporting characters made this all the more entertaining. As this book was inspired when her own mother was battling cancer, Simon brings the reader along as these three women learn to lean on each other while piecing their relationship back together. This book was a fun read that I would recommend to anybody.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This book is a decent, cozy murder mystery that I enjoyed reading. It took a little bit to get into, but it was a compelling mystery and storyline once it got going. The characters were likable and the writing was strong, and was a cozy take on a murder mystery/true crime novel.

It follows three women, Lana the grandmother who went from major real estate power player to having to quit her job and getting treatment for cancer. So she moves in with her daughter Beth, who works at a nursing home, and granddaughter Jack, who is fifteen and works part time at a kayak tour company. They have to manage living all under the same roof along with the murder investigation that is happening in the slough behind their house that they are thrust into when the victim is found wearing a lifejacket from the company Jack works for. It is an interesting plot that kept me hooked until the end, and the ending was satisfying if not totally shocking. I enjoyed that it was told from the POV of each of the women throughout the book to show how they were thinking and dealing with everything happening. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cozy murder mystery with some family drama.

Oh, this book! It took me bit to get into it, but then I was hooked. I absolutely loved the three female main characters: Lana, Beth, and Jack.

It was so touching to see how Lana softened, grew, and shared her wisdom with both her daughter and her granddaughter. The mystery was a puzzle for me almost to the reveal. There were some good villains, as well as possible villains, but like true humans, they weren’t all bad. Just bad enough to possibly commit murder!

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was so fun! I loved our three MC, and I loved watching their relationship change. I sincerely hope this is a series.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was a pretty fun read. Not quite what I was expecting but still enjoyable. Mother-daughter has a double meaning as it's actually a grandmother-mother-granddaughter who work to solve the mystery of the murder in their small town. If you like your mysteries somewhere between the ones that have bad punny titles and the super dark noir ones, this one might be for you. It's pretty light but not so formulaic.

Nina Simon has written a fabulous murder mystery with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end, and a complex family relationship that will make you want to pick up the phone and call your own parent or child.
It's populated by dynamic, unforgettable characters: Lena Rubicon - the take-charge glamorous real estate mogul; Beth - Lena's daughter who's raising her teen daughter in a quiet coastal community, eschewing her mothers' lifestyle; and Jack, Beth's 16-year-old daughter, a strong and independent nature-lover who spends every free moment kayaking. When Lena is forced to convalesce in Beth's small home, tensions run high. But then Jack is charged with murder and the three women are forced to work together to try and solve the crime, repairing their relationship along the way. It's been a while since I finished this book and I miss hanging out with the Rubicon women - I hope there's a sequel!

I love these women - I hope the author goes back to this little town.
Strong, fierce, independent and unapologetic - yes yes yes!
After Lana's bleak cancer diagnosis, she heads to her daughter's house. Their relationship at best is strained. Lana needs a project to stop driving Beth nuts. Thankfully, there's a murder - Ricardo is found on her granddaughter's kayaking tour. Jack is the prime suspect.
Together the Rubicon women work to find the real culprit. Along the way figuring out how to work together.

Murder mystery so captivating and a fun read.
This was very entertaining story of a grandmother, mother and daughter ttrying to solve this murder mystery, fast paced, and also twisty.
I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Coming out 09/05/23.