Nostalgia City Mystery #5
Mystery
Date Published: 03-13-2025
Publisher: Archer & Clark
A public war between a governor and a theme park lights the fuse on a story
of hate groups, murder, corruption, racism, and political espionage.
Ex-cop turned theme-park cab driver Lyle Deming finds the body of a park
visitor during an LGBTQ event. The dead man catered gay weddings. Was it a
hate crime?
Arizona governor Rod Gudgel, running for reelection, calls it a random
shooting. He mocks Nostalgia City theme park for its inclusiveness, uses
homophobic and racist slurs, and later challenges the safety of its
rides.
Park CEO, “Max” Maxwell lambasts the governor’s prejudice and
insensitivity, and the fight is on—in public and undercover. Maxwell
drafts Lyle to investigate the murder while Kate Sorensen, his 6’-2½” public
affairs VP, goes on the offensive in the media.
When an assault rifle attack kills and injures park employees demonstrating
for gay rights at a Gudgel campaign office, Nostalgia City mourns, and Kate
slams the governor’s unsympathetic response to the slaughter. While the FBI
and sheriff’s deputies investigate the crime, the governor redoubles his
efforts to regulate the park out of business.
Looking for a shooting suspect, Lyle gets a little too close to an armed
hate group—with a possible connection to the governor. His lady friend Kate
flies to Montana where she digs into the governor’s unseemly past uncovering
a trail of malfeasance dating back two decades and arousing Gudgel allies
who want to stop her at all cost.
With Lyle’s wry humor and Kate’s stick-to-itiveness the story moves quickly
as mysteries and subplots multiply and loop together threatening the park,
their relationship, and their lives.
About the Author
My first three mysteries were published by Black Opal Books with my debut novel earning recommendation from the American Library Association.
I started writing mysteries after a writing career in journalism and marketing. Prior to my novels, Ether Books of the UK published a collection of my flash fiction mysteries and many of my shorts have been published in online literary magazines. During my business career I wrote two books for John Wiley and Sons, one of which was a Library Journal Best Business Book of the Year. I have an MA in journalism and a golden retriever.
I write the kind of mysteries I like to read. I appreciate stories with twists, turns, and puzzles which appeal to the head. But I also like a mystery that appeals to the heart with a fast pace and challenges and threats that put the protagonists in peril.
Contact Links
Twitter: @baconauthor
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