Dream Town, the fifth book in Goldberg’s Eve Ronin Homicide Detective franchise, is scheduled for January 2024 publication, and as aptly suggested by the title, explores the ways in which fantasy and reality blur and collide in the world of Tinseltown. Ronin still works daily as a detective out of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Lost Hills Station in what was once the boondocks of Calabasas, but now is filled with the gated communities of endless celebrities. Nevertheless, as Ronin goes about her daily activities, she stumbles over television crews filming the true crime stories of Detective Ronin. She can see a facsimile of herself or a stunt double being filmed, living a real life drama that played out for Ronin. It’s hard to know where the fantasy stops and the reality begins.

The same can be said for the Winslows who film a reality show (kind of like the Kardashians) and were catapulted to fame following the “accidental” release of a sex tape. The dramas on the series are all scripted, but are to the family’s many Insta followers as real as could be. Just how real it all is comes to a head when violence strikes them. The investigation leads Ronin and her partner Duncan into Hidden Hills, a quasi-private gated city with horse trails and its own resident sheriff’s deputy posted there. Life is different it seems for the rich, but as noted, the lines between tv and reality keep blurring as the family patriarch, a former Western star, can’t keep straight whether he is on his old tv series chasing bad guys or ensconced in a fancy horse estate.

Ronin is simultaneously involved in an investigation in the nearby preserve that was the former Ahmanson ranch. Bones have been found and a painstaking search is undergone to preserve an ever-widening crime scene.

This, the fifth book in the series, is a fast-paced enjoyable read. Many thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review purposes.

Wow! A dreamy thriller filled with the wonders of Hollywood. I was hooked since the first page. Certainly always wanted to know what was coming next.