I liked Ellen Byron's 'Cajun Country Mystery Series', set in Louisiana, so I decided to try this debut novel in the author's 'Golden Motel' series, set in California.
*****
Dee Stern was a Hollywood sitcom writer for fifteen years, but her latest job on the kids' show 'Duh!' - about tween superheroes in middle school - was the last straw. Dee admits, 'The job was hard, the pay was bad, the staff hated being there, and the writing was terrible, even my own.'
Taking a drive to get out of Los Angeles, Dee is meandering through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains when she sees an abandoned hostelry, called the Golden Motel, for sale.
On the spot, Dee decides to become a hotelier.....
......and she and her best friend (and former husband) Jeff Cornetta pool their money to buy the motel.
To get the venue going, Dee and Jeff must clean, decorate, and refurnish all the rooms and cabins;
fix the welcome sign, which currently only illuminates the letters 'OLD MOTEL'; and repair the pool.
Jeff, who's a freelance website designer, will also create a webpage to advertise the venue and describe things to do in the area. The local attractions include the nearby Majestic National Park and two quaint towns called Foundgold and Goldsgone. These odd names hark back to the gold rush days of the mid-1800s, when would-be miners flocked to the area.
Foundgold, with a population of 68 and one general store/diner, doesn't attract many visitors.
However, Goldsgone - a historic recreation town that looks almost exactly like it did 150 years ago - is a popular tourist attraction. The Goldsgondians dress in period costumes; speak in Old West lingo; and maintain old timey facades for their stores and businesses.
Dee and Jeff hope to add additional activities, like a historic trail, and a sluice where families can pan for (fake) gold nuggets.
When Dee learns that the first guest of the Golden Motel will be Michael Adam Baker, she gets a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Baker is a sitcom writer Dee worked with on her first Hollywood gig, and he's the most devious, backstabbing person Dee ever worked with.
Baker claims he wants a quiet venue to pen his script for a new pilot, and Dee and Jeff are cautiously optimistic, thinking the hostelry might become a writer's retreat. It turns out Baker has an ulterior motive for staying at the Golden Motel, and when Dee learns about it, she angrily tells Baker to leave.
Soon afterward, Baker is found dead in the woods near the motel, and Dee and Jeff become the prime suspects for his murder.
Two rival law enforcement officers investigate the homicide, which results in some fun hijinks. The two men are Deputy Sheriff Raul Aguilar, from Goldsgone......
......and Park Ranger Tom O'Bryant, from Majestic National Park.
In the meantime, Dee and Jeff, whose 'murder motel' is losing business, decide to find the killer themselves. The would-be sleuths learn that the victim, Michael Adam Baker, grew up in Goldsgone, where some people consider him a golden boy, and others think he got what he deserved.
The hoteliers consider just about everyone Baker knew to be a suspect, including the victim's erstwhile agent; the agent's wife; the agent's assistant; a real estate broker; a restauranteur; a contractor; various sitcom writers; and more.
Dee and Jeff, being newly minted amateur detectives, fumble and bumble as they go around questioning people, who resent being considered suspects. Thus the sleuths are snubbed and threatened, and things escalate further when there's a drugging, a fire, a bear looking for food, and another death. Dee and Jeff keep on going, though, and carry on to success!
Ellen Byron has a deft hand with cozy mysteries, and there's lots of jollity in this one, which has a lovely setting and an entertaining group of characters. One of my favorites is Dee's father, Sam Stern, a voice actor who usually converses in the voice of a cartoon character he's acted, like Tweety Sweety, or Super String Man, or Colonel Cluck.
I look forward to Dee and Jeff's further adventures, which will (hopefully) include smoother sleuthing techniques.
Thanks to Netgalley, Ellen Byron, and Kensington Cozies for a copy of the manuscript.
Rating: 3 stars
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