Deadly Summer Nights is the first book from Catskill Summer Resort Mystery and also the first Vicki Delany book I've ever read. Buy the book because, yeah I know, I'm a sucker for a good cover, lel. The setting itself is pretty unique, since happen in the summer resort in Catskill at 1953. If you know about that year, then you know that USA is in Cold War with Russia, so the Cold War aspect kinda play a little bit part for the story.

For a cozy mystery, the murderer identity didn't pretty hard to predict. Reading how Delany unfold the mystery surrounding the culprit remind me of one of Dame Agatha Christie's title I'd read. To be specific, The Pale Horse. The way Delany write the culprit's acts were pretty apparent and obvious, I can guess who they are in the middle of the story. The facts that connected between the victim and the culprit kinda affirm my deduction so I can said that the mystery was easy or maybe because I remember The Pale Horse while reading Deadly Summer Night since

both the culprits behave strangely, like pretty much forward with their acts. In this book, with the way they try to blame the victim for a fact that didn't make sense at all

The assembly of characters were solid and I like the heroine, Elizabeth Grady. She is a widow and I like that there was a reason why she remain unmarried. Her relationship with her celebrity mother, Olivia, while not a 100% perfect mother-daughter relationship still show that they love each other with their own way. Olivia believe that Elizabeth will manage the Haggerman's Catskill Resort while Elizabeth try her best to operate the resort and keep the business running. I also like Elizabeth interaction with her employer, such as her best friend, Velvet McNally and one of the swimming instructor named Randy. Although I can't take Velvet name seriously and wonder if Velvet is truly her birth name or just a stage name. What make this book a little bit different is there's no romance between Elizabeth with one of the law enforcement. There's a hint of love interest, come from Richard Kennelwood, son of Kennelwood's owner and make things a little bit awkward because the owner, Jerome, try to sabotage Elizabeth's business in the past.

If there's a thing that didn't sit well with me is the amount of the sexism. I get that Delany try to describe the setting faithfully with the book set in 1953 so we know that back then men often dismissed women's opinion. So, it was frustrating to read the way the cop didn't take Elizabeth's opinion and deduction seriously. Also, the chief keep interrupt Elizabeth when she speak. But, I'm glad with the way the norm at that year work against her, Elizabeth still try to keep her wits. In the end, she also manage to trap the culprit and also bring some people to help her rather than go with the culprit alone. The communist angle is a little bit silly imho, but I understand that in the time of Cold War, the reaction of USA citizen toward communist is met with fear and anger, and Delany describe it very well.

Deadly Summer Nights is a fun summer cozy read and aside from the mysteries aside, you can feel the summer heat and vibes. Together with scandals and gossips among old ladies that follow of course.