Murder on Sex Island: A Luella van Horn Mystery

Murder on Sex Island (2025) by Jo Firestone. This is a funny book. It is only a passable murder mystery. It has a title designed to get the passing reader to take it off the shelf and nose through at least the beginning.
This book is like potato chips in that you will want more and when you’re done, you might have a sense of remorse. If you got trapped into reading this book for whatever reason, read it all and then smile and take it to your reading like I did. Past the shocked intakes of breath and looks of surprise, there wasn’t one reader who didn’t want to at least sample it.
The story is gonzo from the start. The private detective is the alter ego a slight goofy almost 30 year-old Staten Island divorced mother of a cat or two and former social worker. When a cast member on the hit TV show Sex Island disappears detective Luella van Horn gets hired to come to the island set, detect what she can and go undercover as the latest addition to the cast of early 20 year-olds. Even though she had been specializing in finding lost pets and doesn’t have a license, it is her lack of experience that the producers seem to find as her most attractive feature.
The cast must have on-camera sex daily, The costumes are most revealing. Luella’s false teeth and wig keep slipping in the most awkward of fashions at the worst of time. And there is no body.
Then the body appears in the bathtub in the room Luella occupies throwing her into the spotlight.
As you might expect, the cast of characters have no great depth. The men and women share a few common traits. They are universally young, pretty, greedy and with the basic instincts of boa constrictors. There is a $100,000 prize for the two most popular contestants, There are regular votes among the cast as to who the two are that week. And there almost nothing they wouldn’t do to reap the money.
Add in the two producers running the show. They would halt at nothing to keep the ratings as high as possible.
No matter what it takes.
Suspects abound, the puzzle is enough to keep you interested, but if you came expecting an X rating, think again. Turns out this is a cosy mystery after all.