How a private mother-daughter project became a popular murder mystery novel.

It started as a private project that entertained a mother and a daughter during a trying time.

Nina Simon has written two nonfiction books as a museum industry expert, but she never aspired to become a murder mystery writer. That said, like her mom Sarina Simon, who introduced her to the genre, Simon has been devouring murder mysteries all her life.

“It has always been my go-to for comfort,” she says. “It’s kind of funny to think of warmth and murder together, but I like murder mysteries that have warmth and humanity to them.”

Mother-Daughter Murder Night started as a comfort project, after Simon’s mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. While rereading some favorite books, Simon asked: “What if I try to write a murder mystery with someone like you as the lead detective?” They both got excited about it.

Like Simon’s own mom, the book’s main character, Lana Rubicon, is a fiercely independent woman from Los Angeles. Unlike Simon’s mom, she has a difficult relationship with her daughter and can sometimes be harsh, but “novels need conflict,” Simon points out.

The story is set in Elkhorn Slough, where Lana is convalescing, hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. She is accompanied by her adult daughter Beth and her teenage granddaughter Jack. When Jack finds a dead body and becomes a suspect in the subsequent homicide investigation, the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos.

“My mom was very involved in all the brainstorming,” Simon says. “I would write some, she would read it, and then we could think what should happen next. While it was me and my daughter who did the paddling and the onsite research, she would call from the hospital: ‘Nina, there’s this poisonous frog. Maybe we could use it.’”

Now the book is out in the world and getting a positive response – it was recently chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s book club.

Simon lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but is drawn to North Monterey County as a setting for her stories. “That area, from Salinas to Moss Landing, is such an interesting interaction of the rural and the natural, urban and man-made,” Simon says. “Where people and nature collide against each other, there’s friction and conflict. And that can lead to crime.”

MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT by Nina Simon is available in local bookstores.