Ellen Byron is the award-winning author of the Cajun Country mysteries, the Vintage Cookbook cozies, and, as Maria DiRico, the Catering Hall ones. Now, she puts her experience as a TV sitcom writer to good use with the first Golden Motel Mystery, A Very Woodsy Murder.

Dee Stern’s career as a sitcom writer in Hollywood slowly spiraled downhill, until she just gets in her car and drives away. When she discovers the rustic motel at the foot of Majestic National Park, she thinks she’s discovered her dream. Yes, it needs a lot of work, but The Golden Motel could be restored to its 1940s glory. Dee first ex-husband and best friend, Jeff, agrees to be her partner in the business. He’ll be the tech side, designing the website and handling reservations. She’ll do the cleaning. Neither of them know a thing about the hospitality business, so this could be a recipe for disaster.

Then, their first guest checks in, Michael Adam Baker, a fellow sitcom writer. Baker did everything he could to ruin Dee’s career as a sitcom writer. She isn’t going to let him ruin her new career, although she’s suspicious for his reasons for being there. She’s not the one who finds his body, though. That’s a distant neighbor, Mister Ma’am. But, suddenly Dee and Jeff are suspects and persona non grata in the neighboring town of Goldsgone, where Baker was a favored son. So, why was he staying in their cabin at The Golden Motel? As reservations are cancelled, Dee is frantic to hold on to her dream of running the motel. She and Jeff are as ill-equipped to be amateur sleuths as they are to be in the hospitality business.

Byron has won multiple awards as a cozy mystery writer. A Very Woodsy Murder, a model cozy mystery, has everything going for it to win more awards. There’s a cast of quirky characters, an unusual setting, and two intelligent, slightly inept amateur sleuths. One of the most entertaining cozies I’ve read in quite some time.

Ellen Byron’s website is https://www.ellenbyron.com/

A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron. Kensington, 2024. ISBN 9781496745354 (hardcover), 288p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I read a galley from NetGalley in order to review the book for a journal.