3.5 stars

I enjoyed the Grandma/Mom/Daughter connection. It took me a bit to get through this story, it wasn't quite as intriguing as some of the other cozy mysteries out there. While the mystery was fun it seemed a bit lacking somehow. It also felt, at times, that there was more filler than story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Pretty solid, but it was missing a little something! The pace was too slow at times. However, the plot was twisty and entertaining, so I can't complain too much. 3.5 stars rounded up. I'd recommend this to a certain audience.

What a fun novel! Grandmother Lana is a mover and shaker suddenly sidelined, recovering from cancer in a sleepy town. She has her daughter and granddaughter with her but longs to be in the middle of things again. When her granddaughter finds a body, Lana decides she'll figure out whodunnit.

Twisty, original, and fun, Mother-Daughter Murder Night is a great book to pick up and enjoy this fall.

3 stars

I feel terrible because this is a debut author and I want to give all debuts 5 stars, but this was just meh for me. The writing was pretty good, but the story really dragged and I had to push myself to pick this up. I didn't find the mystery extremely compelling and it was challenging to see so much animosity between Beth & Lana. I was hoping for more of a camaraderie amongst the three generations than there was.

There are a lot more positive reviews, so please take mine with a grain of salt, but the thing that troubled me the most was the intense focus on Jack as the prime suspect so quickly. First, she's 16 years old and I get that horrible crimes can be committed by someone that age, but for the way this book was written I just had trouble following why the police would be so intensely focused on Jack. It was a little puzzling and kind of gave me a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn't able to shake for the rest of the book.

I appreciated the fresh take on a cozy mystery and thought the idea of having three generations solve a case together was a great idea, but I wish it would have been executed a little differently. I wish the author nothing but the best and hope she finds success with this book.

Review Date: 07/24/2023
Publication Date: 09/05/2023

What a wonderful debut book! Nina Simon has combined a murder mystery with a twisty plot and a story of family love and complex relationships, centered around the three strong Rubicon women, grandmother, mother and granddaughter. There is excellent character development, and beautiful descriptions of the natural areas of the slough, where the story takes place. The book captivated me from the beginning, as the Rubicon women investigate, and soon find themselves in grave danger. Iin the process, they also reconnect with each other. It is an action-packed mystery that is full of heart! I thoroughly enjoyed the book and hope to read further adventures of the Rubicon women! Thank you to the author, the publisher, Scene of the Crime, and Netgalley for my advanced copy of the book. The opinions of the review are my own.

This is brilliant, smart, entertaining, dark comedy meets murder mystery with the brilliant dysfunctional family plot of three generations. Lana Rubicon opens her eyes on the floor of her kitchen, barely moving, calling 911. She’s diagnosed with several brain tumors that should be removed immediately. Some of the tumors also split to her lungs which means she has to ask her daughter Beth who is also highly accomplished nurse. She thinks in four times, her treatment process will resolve and she may return back to her old life. Well, she couldn’t be so wrong! She’s living her worst nightmare when she witnesses something utterly shady out her bedroom window. This sparks a fire back into her otherwise dark and boring days, so she gets right to work scrutinizing this small town murder case. Beth and Jack also find themselves involved and fighting for their safety against a murderer, all while rekindling their lost relationship with Lana. This isn’t just about the murder. It’s about these three women growing and learning together while piecing their relationship back together. #NETGALLEY #MOTHER-DAUGHTHERMURDERNIGHT

Received from Scene of the Crime for an early review. That full review will be posted on Goodreads by the date of release and I'll update this info and rating as well.

Thank you for the chance to read!

Mother-Daughter Murder Night
Nina Simon
Pub Date Sept. 5, 2023
William morrow
Thanks to the debut author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion,
I was riveted by this story and highly recommend it!
It’s a wonderful story of three women growing and learning together while putting their relationship together again. Loved it,
4 stars

This was a fun mystery read. Lana, Beth and Jack are relatable and easy to like. Following them solve the murder was a bit like watching an episode of Murder She Wrote. If cozy mysteries are a genre you enjoy you should check this one out. Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley for my ARC.

15-year-old Jack, short for Jacqueline Avital Santos Rubicon, works as a kayak guide. Even though young she is capable, responsible, and certified to lead the water tours for Kayak Shack. One day on a tour two of her participants spot a body in the water. As the murder investigation ensues Jack is right in the center. Besides the water, at the center of Jack’s life are her mom Beth and her grandmother Lana. As might be expected when three generations of women are together there is emotional baggage. Beth is a nurse at a senior center and Lana is fighting metastatic cancer but she’s not about to give up. Determined to clear Jack from any responsibility Lana becomes amateur sleuth.

As the women craft their daily activities around connecting with the family of a now deceased landowner, the plot thickens over ownership rights, family feuds, and a conservation trust that is very closely connected to the body that was discovered.

So there’s our setup. The story is pretty propulsive right from the beginning. It’s tense, it’s angsty, it’s a little spooky, and it’s gonna take us down a twisty path. At its core this is a procedural with an unlikely cast of investigators.

This book is a classic whodunnit with twists, turns, and false leads. I determined the culprit early but that did not slow down my turning pages as I wanted to spend time with Lana, Beth, and Jack.
The relationship of the three women in the book made this a 5 star read for me. The author did an excellent job making these women relatable and fun. I also thought she portrayed the estrangement between Lana and Beth realistically with a practical outcome that I appreciated. Furthermore, I enjoyed each of these women from the first moments I met them. I laughed, I cried, and had a great time reading. I look forward to future books with these characters as I hated to leave them.
Thank you Thoughts From a Page and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Pub date: 9/5/23
Genre: mystery
Quick summary: Businesswoman and young grandmother Lana finds herself bored to tears while recovering with her daughter Beth and granddaughter Jack. So when Jack is accused of murder, Lana makes it her mission to find the real killer.

I absolutely love the title of this book - it screams family drama + detective work, and it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my high expectations. I loved the female MCs, especially Lana and Jack, and it was wonderful seeing all three of them build a closer relationship. But the mystery didn't really keep me engaged and felt like it dragged on too long. The last 100 pages definitely could have been condensed. That being said, I've seen a lot of more positive reviews on Goodreads, so you may enjoy it more than I did. Since this is a debut novel, I will keep my eye out for more from Nina Simon.

Thank you to William Morrow and @thoughtsfromapage for my e-ARC.

Lana is a high profile LA real estate mogul. Things take a turn for the worse for Lana when she finds out she has brain cancer. She is forced to move in with her adult daughter Beth, and her granddaughter, Jack while getting treatment. She is positive the boredom will kill her if her treatment doesn’t.

However, one day while kayaking, Jack happens upon a dead body. Jack quickly becomes a suspect. Lana will not have any of that and quickly sets out to prove Jack’s innocence with the help of Beth. Can they uncover who the murderer is without placing themselves in danger?

I really enjoyed the generational mystery solving family that this book highlighted. It was a lot of fun to have grandma, mom and daughter all working together to try to solve the murder case that Jack was the suspect for. Sure, it was a little outlandish because things just don’t quite work like that in real like but it was fun. I did think that this book was going to have humor in it but it didn’t really, so that was a mismatched expectation. I also found that at times the plot dragged at times making me with that parts were left out. However, overall, this is a really sweet story about family and working together so I did enjoy.

Thank you so much to the publisher, William Morrow, and Netgalley @netgalley, for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Additional links will be added once posted.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. 🔦

A dead body has been found by Jack, a teenage girl conducting a kayak tour, and police target her as a prime suspect in their sloppy investigation. Jack’s grandmother, Lana, confesses that she saw a person with a wheelbarrow dumping a body into the slough behind their home but police officers aren’t taking her seriously and continue to interrogate Jack.

Lana is staying with Jack and her daughter, Beth, while she undergoes treatment for her cancer. She decides that conducting her own investigation will help clear Jack’s name and bring her closer to the real murderer. She doesn’t realize that digging into information that is supposed to stay hidden will put her life in extreme danger.

I can’t believe this was a debut novel! This was a fun mystery to investigate alongside Jack, Lana, and Beth. We are given glimpses of Beth’s past life when she lived with her Mother, and the tension she felt growing up with an absent parent, but what they lacked was communication. Now they’re living in the same home, pursuing the same goal in the investigation, and finally bonding. I couldn’t read the last half of this book fast enough! All the pieces clicked into place, and I was so proud of Lana for all her hard work that lead to an explosive ending.

Side note: I love when books are set in California, there’s that 1% chance that my city will be mentioned and give me a little chuckle because no one ever has anything nice to say about Bakersfield. 🙃

I don't know why, but I thought this book was going to be one of those fun mystery books. Maybe that's why I found myself struggling to get through this one.

I liked the characters enough. They definitely didn't wow me. They are who they are. That's it. None of them stand out. They don't have anything that endeared themselves to me. However, I didn't necessarily dislike them.

The storytelling in this one was exptremely slow moving. It took me way longer to get through the book than it should have. There was more unneceassary filler than actual story. I admittedly did skim a handful of parts in the book because they played no part in the actual story itself.

In a nutshell, this book isn't anything extraordinary. It's an okay book, but I woouldn't be in a hurry to read it.

In this debut novel, a grandmother, mother, and daughter work together to solve the mystery of a dead body discovered in their coastal California town. This is a cozy mystery for fans of The Thursday Night Murder Club. If you like stories with girl power, strong older female protagonists, and complicated mother-daughter relationships, then you will enjoy this delightful mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced e-reader copy.

Lana discovers she has tumors in her brain and she has to call her daughter to help her. Beth wants to help her mother so she picks her up and makes all the calls to get her the best care possible. Beth brings Lana home with her while she is going through chemo treatments and wants her to rest and recover.

Lana isn’t the type of woman to lie around. Her granddaughter discovers a dead body in the slough. As Jack was leading a kayak tour and found the body the police have her as number one suspect.

Lana starts digging for clues and piecing the mystery together. This bond the whole family together as they solve the mystery. Some parts were funny and ultimately it was a great who done it mystery with heart.

This is an outstanding debut novel! From the blurb, I expected something a lot more flighty and frivolous, but this is a serious crime novel blended with a really lovely story about intergenerational mother/daughter relationships and repairing fractured family ties. Well-constructed characters, a central mystery with a resolution that made sense (and wasn't difficult to guess at) but had enough twists and turns to stay interesting and keep me reading long after I should have been asleep for the night. Looking very forward to Nina Simon's next book! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this one ahead of release.

A sweet, if predictable, cozy mystery. It was a good debut novel that kept the interest of this reader until the end.

This murder mystery is so much more than just a thriller. It is also about strong women, three generations trying to protect the lives they've created and the interpersonal relationship of mothers and daughters. If you loved The Thursday Murder Club, you'll love the Mother-Daughter Murder Night.