Serf and Turf: A Silicon Valley Mystery
BGM Press (October 9, 2019)
Paperback: 213 pages

Synopsis

He’s afraid of losing his girlfriend. But maybe he should be more concerned about the dead body she’s crying over?

Marty Golden can barely string a voicemail message together, let alone keep up with his new love. This quirky uncle’s hectic Silicon Valley lifestyle needs a reboot when a youth league soccer game becomes a murder scene. And nothing can stop him from donning his amateur sleuth uniform when he discovers his sweetheart used to have quite a thing for the dead guy …

With a not-so-helpful paw from Buddy the Labrador,  he does his best to sniff out a long list of possible suspects. But between gossipy soccer moms and the costume-clad members of a Renaissance Faire, Marty’s theories fall harder than a jousted knight.

Can Marty solve the case before the trail and his new flame grow cold?

Serf and Turf is the third book in the zany, Silicon Valley cozy mystery series. If you like laugh-out-loud comedy, dorky sleuths, and a festival of old-world fun, then you’ll love Marc Jedel’s humorous murder mystery.

 

Review

With all of the possibilities available for the who the killer might be, the answer came out of left field!

Marty is still a quirky engineer that helps design a driverless car for a company called Rover.  I crack up every time he has the car “stay” especially when he is in an area that getting another car would be nearly impossible.  He has two adorable nieces that are spitfires, a compassionate neighbor that helps him out especially when he doesn’t even know he needs help, a girlfriend that has many interests that confound Marty at times, and a sister that loves to drive a “loud” car when it comes to the paint color.  And we can’t forget Buddy, his sister and niece’s dog, that Marty somehow gets roped into taking care of more than he expects.

I have to laugh at how Marty thinks he is a special investigator for the police, but it is his sleuthing that usually helps solve the case and this book is no different. Detective Mace has given Marty a code name so when they type Marty’s name into the computer it pops up and the police tend to treat Marty a little differently.  I had to laugh when he learns what his codename is in the system.  Normally he has his coworker Raj helping him, but Raj is out of the country and he has a new coworker assisting, Fernando.  There are some tense situations that arise but everyone keeps their cool and escapes unscathed, at least somewhat.

I enjoy the witty banter between characters and trying to solve the mystery.  The concept of the driverless car is always fascinating and what new features they are adding to the vehicle.

At the end of the second book, we were left hanging to the color of the new car for Laney and we finally learn the color about 2/3 of the way through the book.  WOW is about all I’m going to say.

Overall we enjoyed the book and give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

For most of my life, I’ve been inventing stories. Some, especially when I was young, involved my sister as the villain. As my sister’s brother for her entire life, I’m highly qualified to tell the tale of this evolving, quirky sibling relationship.

My writing skills were honed in years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley. While my high tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, we called these marketing collateral, emails, and ads.

The publication of my first novel, Uncle and Ants, gave me permission to claim “author” as my job. And achieving Amazon Best Seller status gave me even better adjectives to use in front of “author.” This has led to way more interesting discussions than answering “marketing.”

My family would tell you that Marty’s character isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination for me, but I’m comfortable with that situation.

Like Marty, I live in Silicon Valley and can’t believe that otherwise normal people would willingly jump out of an airplane and call it fun. Unlike Marty, I have a wonderful wife and a neurotic but sweet, small dog, who is often the first to weigh in on the humor in my writing.

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