SNOWED IN WITH MURDER

A woman who’s returned home to win back her ex finds herself snowed in on an island with a rich family whose members seem intent on destroying each other.

When Erica Bloom returns to visit her childhood home in little Otter Lake, New Hampshire, her goal is to remind her most recent ex, Sheriff Grady Forrester, why he fell for her in the first place. Just because she refused to move from her home in Chicago back to Otter Lake was no excuse for him to dump her via text. Erica has all the requisites for wooing: a big bottle of red wine and a romantic night for two planned at her mother Summer’s hippie yet charming retreat center, Earth, Moon, and Stars, which occupies its own secluded island. When Erica sees Grady, however, it’s apparent that it may take more than a talk to convince him, and when she shows up at the retreat, Summer is nowhere to be found. Instead, a kooky family along with a spare film crew appears to have rented the retreat. Erica can’t figure out what’s going on—nor will readers deprived of expository information needed to set up the basic plot—but it appears that the patriarch, Rayner Boatright, has brought his family to the retreat as part of a reality show called Rich Bitches. Rayner announces to the family that one of them may be trying to kill him to get their inheritance sooner. Trapped on the island with a blizzard fast approaching, Erica tries to keep everyone safe, a task that seems impossible without the help of trained professionals.

Wallace (Pumpkin Picking with Murder, 2016, etc.) tries to strike her usual playful tone, but this entry comes across as juvenile and disorganized.