Elaine Viets launches a new mystery series with Sex and Death on the Beach. You can special order a copy through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/44qMxIR
Do you want to know a little more? Oline Cogdill reviewed the book for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and gifted us with a copy of the review.
Book review: ‘Florida Man’ antics add levity to murder mystery in ‘Sex and Death on the Beach’
‘Sex and Death on the Beach: A Florida Beach Mystery’ by Elaine Viets; Severn House; 240 pages; $29.99
Fort Lauderdale author Elaine Viets has a reputation for mysteries with a wide swath of humor but also with serious undertones. Viets continues that same approach with “Sex and Death on the Beach: A Florida Beach Mystery,” which launches a new, entertaining series.
On the surface, “Sex and Death on the Beach” should lean more toward comedy given the title and the bright, colorful cover. While humor is layered throughout the novel, Viets veers toward a more weighty plot about accepting others for who they are, the power of friendship and, especially, family — both your biological one and the one you make yourself.
As a bonus, Viets enlivens her novel with characters who are as realistic as they are quirky.
“Sex and Death on the Beach” revolves around the Florodora, an apartment building that’s more than 100 years old located on the beach in Peerless Point, a fictional beach town Viets puts between Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood. People would love to call this building home, but it’s doubtful it could exist in this current real estate market. The four-story Florodora has only eight rental apartments, each about 2,000 square feet, and with its “odd hideaways” and a secret staircase, is as much a character as the people.
The Florodora was built by current owner Norah McCarthy’s beloved grandmother, Eleanor Harriman, who was a Florodora Girl, “a superstar chorus girl” in 1920. Before she died, Eleanor asked Norah to never sell the place and rent to “only Florida Men and Women,” who will be longtime residents. Idiosyncratic is fine — in fact a requirement. Cruelty, bigotry or rudeness is not allowed.
So far, Norah has kept her promise to her grandmother, fending off developers and city inspectors bribed to condemn the Florodora. The residents, along with two full-time staff who live there, are a tight-knit group. Norah would rather keep an apartment vacant than rent to the wrong person.
The environment Viets has built well serves the story. The Florodora is threatened when the body of a local adult-entertainment actress is uncovered in a hole plumbers had dug to replace pipes. Sammie Lant was universally disliked by the residents at the Florodora, where she had repeatedly been denied renting an apartment. It wasn’t that the residents were prudish about her occupation. Rather, they objected to her nasty attitude and antics on the beach — as described in the title — that ruined a college student’s life.
Norah’s recent altercation with Sammie makes her a suspect, and the publicity brings out developers and inspectors eager to condemn the Florodora. The murder also draws the residents closer together, as they support Norah, who tries to find out who killed Sammie.
Viets adds bits of levity to “Sex and Death on the Beach” with frequent references to the real antics of Florida Man and Woman, literally ripped from the headlines. While there’s heft to her plot, she doesn’t overwhelm her novel. True to its title, “Sex and Death on the Beach” is a beach read.
That vacant apartment will likely be empty for some time as the series continues. Good tenants are hard to find, and Norah is a picky landlord, and an entertaining one.