A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron

Available: July 23, 2024

Rated: 5 nuggets

Dee Stern chucked her old life in southern California to move to the tiny mountain village of Foundgold. She's going to refurbish a mid-century hotel in the mountains with her best friend, Jeff, and people will flock to the beautiful mountains and nearby national park. Everything is going to be golden... until the bodies start piling up.

The town of Foundgold and the neighboring village of Goldsgone are steeped in tradition, they maintain the gold rush era buildings, wear gold rush era clothing and use gold rush era language. But though times have changed, people have not. Both towns still have their shady characters and their sweethearts. Will Dee be able to figure out which of the shady characters killed her guest? Or was it one of the sweethearts? Are any of the sweethearts really shady characters? The shady characters, sweethearts? We'll find out!

I've read several series by Byron and enjoyed them all. This may turn out to be my favorite. I really like Dee. She's fun and a little spicy and I love how she's left the rat race to restore a piece of bygone Americana. Jeff is really sweet, he's a good friend, very supportive and with an interesting skill set that allows him to do some fun stuff for the motel.

I'm a huge fan of mid-century modern anything and I am very excited to see the Golden Motel rise again, better than ever.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.