Best Laid Plans

Gwen Florio

Jan 2021 · A Nora Best Mystery Book 1 · Severn House Publishers Ltd

About this ebook

In the first of a new mystery series, we meet Nora Best as she flees her old life, cheating husband and all, and takes to the road with an Airstream trailer.

Nora Best is the envy of her friends. She's just turned fifty and has traded in her home with The Perfect-Ass Husband for an Airstream trailer and an adventure of a lifetime across the US.

But during their leaving party, Nora finds her husband in a compromising position with a friend. Storming out of the party she jumps into her truck with no idea how to tow the Airstream or where she's going.

Nora ends up in a campground in the mountains of Wyoming, drowning her sorrows with its managers, Brad and Miranda. When she is woken by a frantic Miranda after Brad has disappeared and bloodstains have been found around the campsite, Nora finds herself caught up in an adventure she could never have expected . . . facing a charge of murder.

Ratings and reviews

Best Laid Plans by Gwen Florio is the first book in A Nora Best Mystery series. Nora Best has just turned fifty and is about to make some big changes. Nora and her husband, Joe have quit their jobs and sold their home. They have purchased a truck and an Airstream. They are going to travel around the country with Nora writing her second book, a travel blog, and taking freelance writing assignments (which will pay for their adventures). During the farewell party, Nora enters the bathroom to find her husband and his best friend’s wife in a compromising position. Nora decides to begin her adventure early by taking off with the truck and Airstream. Nora soon finds herself arrested for murder and she needs to uncover who is setting her up. I was taken with the concept of this series. Our protagonist traveling around and solving mysteries. I liked that Nora is a woman my own age (a rarity in cozy mysteries). I was, though, put off with the significant amount of foul language, alcohol, and talk of intimate situations. The story is told from Nora’s point-of-view which turned me off because of her thoughts (and they say men have a one track mind). I can understand that Nora has had some shocks, but I wish she had acted logically. An example is when the attorney tells her that the police will soon have a warrant and will be searching her Airstream for further evidence. I would go through the trailer with a fine-tooth comb. Nora heads off to the lake to enjoy the view. I was hoping the whodunit would redeem the book, but I was disappointed. It can easily be solved early in the book thanks to one little detail. I thought the book contained many unneeded details along with repetition of information and the second half was a little off the rails (headed to crazy town). As you can tell, I was not the right audience for Best Laid Plans. Nora is an unlikeable protagonist who I would not let near my husband (if I had one). She begins ogling a man less than two days after leaving her husband and has thoughts of doing more than sharing a dinner with him. I also tired of hearing about the husband’s perfect tush. Best Laid Plans is an outrageous mystery tale with a missing man, a ravenous bear, a razor-sharp axe, an awesome Airstream, scrumptious pie, and a remarkable ranger.

About the author

Gwen Florio grew up in a farmhouse filled with books and a ban on television. After studying English at the University of Delaware, she began a thirty-plus year career in journalism that has taken her around the country and to more than a dozen countries, including several conflict zones. Her first novel in the Lola Wick mystery series, Montana won the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction and the High Plains Book Award, and was a finalist for the Shamus Award, an International Thriller Award and a Silver Falchion Award. She has since released four other books in the Lola Wick series and one standalone novel. Best Laid Plans is her first novel with Severn House. www.gwenflorio.net