taking a bite out of crime

Marie Jones lives a quiet life. Recently divorced, she is a licensed social worker, has cats, and watches a reality show where beautiful young men and women live on a remote island and hook up. It’s a very popular show. And then one of the contestants went missing.

David G. is a popular contestant, and then he just disappeared from the show. Marie noticed it as she watched from home and thought it was odd. And then she got the call for Luella van Horn.

Luella van Horn is her alter ago, a private investigator who finds lost dogs and investigates potential affairs. As Louella, Marie wears a blonde wig and false teeth. She had found a lost dog for the sister of one of the producers of the reality show, and now they were calling her for help to find David G. The producers don’t want to raise alarm bells about their missing contestant, so they don’t want her to advertise herself as a detective on the set. Instead, they’re going to bring her in as a new contestant, someone who could shake up the current dynamic and make some waves.

Louella jumps at the chance, not only to take on the investigation but to join in on the reality show she watches every night. But once she’s there, on the set, in her trailer, faced with the tiny bikini the wardrobe department laughingly wants her to wear that day, she has second thoughts. She has to remind herself that there is a reason she is there, and she has to endure the filming in order to be able to investigate.

And investigate she does, especially when she goes back to her room and finds David G. in her bathtub. The police find out that he was poisoned, so Louella knows what she’s looking for. She just doesn’t know who could have done it. Was it one of the other contestants? Generally, poison is considered a weapon for a woman, so was it one of the women on the show? Was it someone who he’d broken up with? Or was it someone with the cast and crew? A producer? The director? The more Louella learns about the people who are around her on the island, the more questions she has.

Will Louella be able to figure out who killed David G. in time to save the show? Will she be able to figure it out in time to save herself?

Murder on Sex Island is the debut mystery novel from comedy writer Jo Firestone. Known for her work with Taylor Tomlinson’s After Midnight and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as well as her own comedy specials, Firestone takes her knowledge of Hollywood and skewers it in this blistering satire of reality television.

The characters in this novel are bigger than life, and they all have an agenda, making it funnier than I expected and the mystery more complicated than I anticipated. This novel is a lot of fun. The setting alone sets up a lot of the humor, but add in the characters, and it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Fans of reality dating shows and readers who love a good send-up of Hollywood should check this book out.

Egalleys for Murder on Sex Island were provided by Bantam through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.