Murder on the Steel Pier

Tess Mancini Time Travel Mystery, #1

by

Rose Genova

A fun and fascinating debut for this Imaginative and unique new mystery series!

Murder on the Steel Pier is the debut novel in author Rose Genova's imaginative, fantastically unique, and definitely nostalgic new Tess Mancini Time Travel Mystery series. After a night out on the town of Atlantic City celebrating her 35^th birthday, a female reporter awakes the next morning in someone else's bed with no memory of how she got there. But this formula for a cliched Walk of Shame takes an immediate left turn: the bed is in her Great-Great-Aunt Netta's boardinghouse, everyone there thinks she's her long-deceased Great Aunt Theresa, and it's 1955 instead of 2025! 

Teresa "Tess" Mancini has lived in Atlantic City her whole life, surrounded by family. Still, nothing prepares her for what she goes through with her distant relations and the hidden family secrets she uncovers. Life for the 30-year-old Theresa Mancini, a reporter like Tess, is much more restricted and sedate than what Tess is accustomed to in the present. However, Theresa is one smart cookie (don't let Zia Netta hear you say that) as she helps her great-niece navigate 1950s standards of decorum. I really liked that Theresa's thoughts would occasionally slip into Tess's mind while Tess unconsciously retained much of Theresa's knowledge of the times when she took her place in their shared body. Like Theresa, though, there are no flies on Tess either, and she's able to fake her way through her new life, look into the murder of one of the boarding house guests, and help Theresa's brother Val (the man who would be Tess's grandfather) from taking the rap. Val had publicly threatened the man the day before he was shot and left to die at The Steel Pier on the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk. 

The plot is one big twist, with Tess trying to avert disaster for herself and her family in the future by changing something in the past. (She's seen the movies, too!) Suspicious boarders, shady characters, and secrets abound and steadily build the suspense in the past as Tess reaches out to one of the greatest minds of the 20^th century to help her return to her rightful place in time. Wrap all this up with Val's looming death sentence, and the story kept me on the edge of my seat until the very final resolution. 

With its great plot, surprising twists and turns, and engaging characters, I recommend MURDER ON THE STEEL PIER to historical cozy mystery readers, especially those who enjoy a time-travel element in their stories. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.