Customer Reviews
I am a longtime fan of Elaine Viets this book had me laughing out loud and the storyline was beyond excellent. I have already recommended this book to several of my friends who always love reading. Great Books
I am a big fan of Ms. Viets' prior series so I was excited to read this start to a new series. Unfortunately, I didn't really like any of the characters enough that I would want to continue.Norah owns the historic Florodora apartments with an eclectic group of tenants. For years developers have tried to get their hands on the property, to no avail. An adult film star has been persistent about wanting to rent the vacant apartment and Norah has stuck to her guns that she would not be a good fit at the Florodora. Her parting words would be that she would rent this person an apartment "over my dead body, or better yours." So when this same person turns up dead on the property, Norah is the number one suspect. Coupled with finding a second body on the premises, Norah has to find out whodunit to save her beloved Florodora.The cast of characters is certainly eclectic, which Viets is quite good at. I did not really care for Norah, who struck me as a poor little rich girl. While I appreciated her gumption to save her apartment building and her grandmother's legacy, there was nothing particularly striking that made me want to like her. I also thought her investigation of the murders was too far fetched to be realistic, since she did not have a good relationship with the detective and these random people she is questioning all seem to get angry and want her dead too.
This story birder, romance, and family stole my heart. I didn't "figure it out" any sooner than I.ws supposed to. Think you, Elaine Viets, for another excellent read.
Elaine Viets was a journalist in St. Louis, which inspired her dark Francesca Vierling series. She switched gears to write the humorous Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series, and the cozy Dead End Job series. She brilliantly explored the seamier side of class war in the noir Angela Richman series. Now she’s back with Sex and Death on the Beach, the first book of her Florida Mystery series, which will to appeal to fans of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs but also Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen.The setting is the fabulous Floradora beach apartments in Southeast Florida, built by a dancing girl after she was left widowed and wealthy. Now it’s run by Norah, the dancer’s granddaughter, who only rents to tenants who are good “Florida Man” or “Florida Woman” candidates, the kind you meet in news articles like ‘Florida Woman Bathes in Mountain Dew in Attempt to Erase DNA after Committing Murder.’The building has a secret staircase and hidden closets, good for hiding the dancer’s past as well as a tenant’s pot when the detective comes round to find out who killed the porn star buried out by the pool.A second body is found buried in the courtyard, this one a thirty-year old cold case. Turns out he was the drunk who killed Norah’s parents; fingers are pointed at Norah’s now deceased grandmother. Norah wants to clear her grandmother’s name and find the truth about her grandmother’s secrets. She relies on the tenant who is her sometime lover, the hunky Dean (not his real name because he is in witness protection).Viets braids the various plot threads with skilled hands. The pace is fast, the crimes grim, the characters hilarious. A book to be read in one sitting, then re-savored.
Sex and Death on the Beach: A Florida Beach Mystery is the first book in a new cozy mystery series by Elaine Viets. Filled with a host of colorful and eccentric characters, a great setting, a couple of mysteries, and plenty of humor, the result is a really good and highly entertaining cozy style mystery. All too soon the read is over leaving one wanting more.Norah McCarthy owns and operates the apartment building known to all as “The Florodora.” Inherited from her grandmother, Norah keeps the traditions surrounding the building alive and well. This happens even though developers want the place and there are issues with upkeep of the building and the grounds. The place is over one hundred years old. That means history is everywhere inside and outside of the building. Located in Peerless Point, Florida, a beach town between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the place is full of a cast of characters who are renters and also family.History is important and part of everything at The Florodora, but the kind of history that has been just uncovered is the kind of history that Norah McCarthy could really do without. The pool is broken. Again. The Sykes brothers have been using a mini excavator to tear up the courtyard so that they can get to the pipe problem. Again. They still have not gotten to the pipe, but the work is done for now.They have found a buried body.All indications are that the body is of Sammie Lant. A notorious porn star who had recently been riding a wave of publicity built on her riding a certain college athlete on the beach. The video went viral and the public went crazy.She also had tried to rent an apartment at The Florodora only to have Nora McCarthy emphatically tell her no. Sammie had tried again two more times and had gotten nastier each time. The last time, back in April five months ago, the two women had a very loud and very public argument which had resulted in the police being called. Eventually, a local cop, Jordan DeMille, escorted Sammie off the property as Sammie loudly complained that Norah had threatened her life.She had.Now Sammie lies dead in a hole near the pool at The Florodora. As it happens, the same cop who heard Norah threaten Sammie months ago is a Detective. Norah, who is worried that one of her residents might have done the dead, never thought of herself as a suspect. In the eyes of Detective Jordan Demille and other members of the Peerless Point Police, she most definitely is a suspect. Not the only one, but a suspect of significant importance.Now Sammie is dead and buried on her property and that is a huge problem. If only Liam and Lester hadn’t found the body. But, they did, and the media is soon all over everything and hounding residents. With things getting worse by the hour and day, and DeMille and crew seemingly focused on her, it isn’t surprising that Norah starts investigating as best as she can. The goal, with a little help from her friends, is to clear her good name and restore peace and tranquility for all at The Florodora.Way easier said than done.Sex and Death on the Beach: A Florida Beach Mystery is a highly entertaining cozy mystery read. Plenty of eccentric characters, a complicated backstory, and lots of action and suspense make the read a real page turner. This fast read with plenty of humor hooks the reader into various mysteries, past and present, and gradually reveals them all. Strongly recommended.Published by Severn House, I picked up my reading copy via NetGalley without any expectation of a review.Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
