Deadly Summer Nights

July 1, 2021
Veteran Delany kicks off a new series set in a 1950s Catskill Mountains resort. Elizabeth Grady was raised by her Aunt Tatiana while her mother, Olivia Peters, pursued a dancing career that made her famous and rich until she trusted the wrong man. Left with nothing but a Catskills hotel that she inherits unexpectedly, Olivia persuades Elizabeth to give up her bookkeeping job in New York City to help her make a go of Haggerman's Catskills Resort. After all, it's the heyday of the Borsht Belt, when New Yorkers flock to the Catskills' high-end resorts and inexpensive bungalow colonies to escape the summer heat. What Elizabeth didn't expect is that, as she tells her best friend, Velvet, "I would manage the entire resort and everything to do with it, while she sips cocktails, looks gracious, and pops up now and again to charm the guests." Working endless hours during the busy summer season, Elizabeth finally has hopes of turning a profit, but they're dashed when a guest is murdered and rumors of communist plots abound. The local police chief, discovering that the murdered guest's cabin is filled with papers and maps, leaps to the conclusion he's a communist spy and calls the FBI. The dead man's next of kin, New York Times reporter Jim Westenham, insists that his Uncle Harold was a harmless retired professor writing a novel; he teams up with Elizabeth to investigate a crime the local police are putting on the back burner. Elizabeth must deal with whiny guests, clumsy staff, and nasty rumors spread by the competition while she, Jim, and Velvet attempt to solve the murder. Pitch-perfect period descriptions, a likable heroine, and a surprising conclusion will leave readers yearning for the sequel.

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August 1, 2021
Former dancer, the glamorous Olivia Peters, and her daughter, Elizabeth Grady, run Haggerman's Catskills Resort, with Olivia providing the star power and Elizabeth doing all the work. Things are looking up financially in their second year, although the owner of a neighboring resort has tried to sabotage their efforts by spreading unflattering rumors. When one of their guests, the reclusive Harold Westenham, is found dead and the police find The Communist Manifesto in his room, Olivia and Elizabeth, along with Harold, are accused of Communist leanings, a big problem in 1953. With the risk of losing business due to the murder and swirling rumors, Elizabeth investigates, along with Harold's nephew, newspaperman Jim Westenham, who denies his uncle was a Communist. An immersive setting with details of running a Catskills resort in the 1950s (think Kellerman's in Dirty Dancing) beautifully frame a story with plot twists and a cast of well-delineated characters.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 13, 2021

In this series opener, cozy author Delany ("Constable Molly Smith Mysteries"; as Eva Gates, "Lighthouse Library Mysteries") turns her lens on upstate New York's famous 1950s Catskills resorts. In the summer of 1953, Elizabeth Grady looks forward to her second summer managing Haggerman's Catskills Resort. She expects demanding guests, underhanded dealings from her competitive neighbors, crises with suppliers, and the occasional staff uproar. She doesn't expect to find a murdered guest, a local cop searching for communist plots behind every bush and in every guest cabin, and a newspaperman intent on getting to the bottom of the juicy story, while Elizabeth does her best to find the killer before the scandal kills the resort. This charming cozy mixes murder with a peek behind the storied face of Catskills resort culture. Elizabeth is determined to make a go of the resort in spite of a world that questions her authority and police hunting for imaginary "Reds" behind every curtain. While the solution of the murder plays second fiddle to the series setup, the characters are engaging and the setting is delightfully off the beaten path for the genre. VERDICT Highly recommended for cozy readers looking for a new setting to explore and a heroine with a lot of moxie.--Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA

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