Summary

All in all, a neatly tied up whodunnit with nice closure.

4 STAR REVIEW: DEADLY SUMMER NIGHTS by Vicki Delany

About The Book

A Catskills Summer Resort Mystery: Book 1
Publication Date: September 14, 2021

A summer of fun at a Catskills resort comes to an abrupt end when a guest is found murdered, in this new 1950s set mystery series.

It’s the summer of 1953, and Elizabeth Grady is settling into Haggerman’s Catskills Resort. As a vacation getaway, Haggerman’s is ideal, and although Elizabeth’s ostentatious but well-meaning mother is new to running the resort, Elizabeth is eager to help her organize the guests and the entertainment acts. But Elizabeth will have to resort to untested abilities if she wants to save her mother’s business.

When a reclusive guest is found dead in a lake on the grounds, and a copy of The Communist Manifesto is found in his cabin, the local police chief is convinced that the man was a Russian spy. But Elizabeth isn’t so sure, and with the fate of the resort hanging in the balance, she’ll need to dodge red herrings, withstand the Red Scare, and catch a killer red-handed.

The Review

Deadly Summer Nights is the first book in the Catskill Summer Resort Mystery series by Vicki Delany, and I look forward to reading more. 

Ms. Delany is a new author to me, but I was engaged from the first page to the last. This cozy mystery has a multitude of characters, plot twists, an amateur sleuth, and a mystery to be solved with lots of red herrings thrown in the way. 

Set in the early ’50s in the Catskills at a kitschy resort, the book resonated with me since my family went to a similar resort for long weekends for about ten years. It was easy to visualize the locations, the passageways, the different activities and entertainment, the food and drink along with the mountains, the pool, and the lake since it is reminiscent of many such hotels in the area. Some were even mentioned along with similar small towns, bungalow colonies, and even the roads to get there, which were easy to envision.

Elizabeth Grady has her hands full running the resort her mother inherited. Her mother only gets involved when her fame as a dancer is needed to placate guests or move their thoughts elsewhere and away from the murder committed on site. The police and even the FBI, who are called in to help, don’t seem to be doing much to solve the case. Elizabeth doesn’t need rumors swirling about that Haggerman’s is a communist hotbed, has an unsolved murder with a murderer on the loose, or is a resort that’s going to go under and leave people out of work. All isn’t as it seems, and many of the supporting characters have their own agendas, or so it seems. Elizabeth decides to solve the mystery herself and some of her staff’s help, much to her mother’s chagrin, and does just that!

We get to meet key employees woven throughout the story and some of the people staying at the hotel. We see Elizabeth, her mother, and her aunt who raised her, who’s in charge of housekeeping, in action. There is depth to the characters and layers to the story as a result. There are some love interests for Elizabeth and others, but this is far from a romance, and those parts of the story only scratch the surface. All in all, a neatly tied up whodunnit with nice closure.Buy Links

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About The Author

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Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than forty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, the Catskill Resort mysteries for Penguin Random House, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane.

Vicki is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

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Blog Tour Schedule

September 1 – Author Elena Taylor’s Blog – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 1 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

September 2 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

September 2 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

September 2 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

September 3 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST

September 3 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

September 4 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 4 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW

September 5 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 5 – The Cozy Pages – REVIEW

September 6 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW, RECIPE

September 6 – This Is My Truth Now – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 7 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

September 7 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 8 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

September 8 – My Journey Back the Journey Back – RECIPE

September 8 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 9 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 9 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 10 – View From the Birdhouse – REVIEW

September 10 – Brianne’s Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 11 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 11 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW, GUEST POST

September 12 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW

September 12 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW

September 13 – Reading Reality – REVIEW

September 13 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 14 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW

September 14 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT

REVIEW AUTHOR

JoAnne
JoAnne
JoAnne Weiss, nee Montalbano, was born and raised in NYC until moving to CT with her family when she was 16 and she's never left. Married for 41 years with one grown son, she works in an elementary school office where she's been since it opened in 2003. Prior to that, she was an accountant in several corporations before becoming a stay at home mom for 12 years. JoAnne enjoys reading, traveling, spending time with her family, and extended family as well as with friends. She enjoys cooking and rarely uses a recipe the way it was intended but instead uses them and cooking shows to give her new ideas and suggestions. JoAnne has a huge bucket list of places she'd like to visit but has been lucky enough to travel to England, Italy, the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and many states in the U.S. including Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Maine among others. Some of JoAnne's favorite genres include contemporary romance, chick-lit, romantic suspense, and historical romances including regency and those set in the west. JoAnne is on several author's street teams and enjoys interacting with many of them on Facebook as well as reading their newsletters. She has been lucky enough to meet some of her favorite authors among them Susan Mallery, Debbie Macomber, Nora Roberts, Meg Tilly, Beatriz Williams, and Marie Bostwick. JoAnne took a road trip with her sister in the fall of 2019 and visited Nora Roberts' bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland for an authors' signing. She hopes to do more of this in the future. JoAnne leaves reviews for all books she reads on Goodreads and her reviews can be found at https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5001736?ref=nav_mybooks JoAnne currently reviews for - NovelsAlive.com and RomanceJunkies.com which is on hiatus. Previously she reviewed for Romancing-the-Book.com which has since closed. Payment is in the form of receiving free books to read and review. Her mantra is too many books and not enough time!

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All in all, a neatly tied up whodunnit with nice closure.4 STAR REVIEW: DEADLY SUMMER NIGHTS by Vicki Delany