MURDER ON SEX ISLAND

A private detective goes undercover to solve a reality-show mystery.

Marie Jones was a social worker from Staten Island, but that was before she transformed herself into a private investigator, got a divorce, and moved to Manhattan. When she wears a blond wig, fake teeth, and red lipstick, she’s Luella van Horn, a glamorous detective capable of locating any lost dog. But then she gets hired for a much larger case: Finding a missing man. David G., a cast member from the reality show Sex Island, is nowhere to be found, and producers are worried. Sex Island, which Luella watches religiously, puts “the country’s sexiest twenty-two-year-olds” on an island in Bermuda, where “viewers watch them have sex and emotionally destroy each other.” Luella must pose as a contestant as she investigates, despite being nearly 30—geriatric in Sex Island terms. Being part of the show is much harder than simply watching it: Luella must now dress in the skimpy bathing suits the cast members favor and try to keep her wigs from getting damaged (also, those fake teeth make it hard to eat or talk). She soon finds David G. dead in her bathtub and realizes that the situation may be more dangerous than she expected. Soon, she’s embroiled in a mystery and no one can be trusted. Comedian Firestone’s debut is hilariously absurd and over the top, showcasing Sex Island as a nightmare fantasy world where contestants wear backless dresses with rhinestone G-strings and have sex on television. Luella is a fantastic and funny narrator whose can-do attitude frequently places her in bizarre and dangerous situations. With a long list of suntanned suspects, the true identity of the killer remains a mystery right up until Luella puts the pieces together.

This silly and surreal cozy mystery is truly unlike anything else.