Nina Simon’s debut novel soared up the best-seller lists. Now she’s talking inspiration — from atop a stand-up paddleboard on this Monterey Bay slough.
Nina Simon, the author of “Mother-Daughter Murder Night,” at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, Calif., on May 24, 2024. Paddling out into Elkhorn Slough on a bright, brisk morning in May, Nina Simon pointed out brown pelicans gliding inches above the salty Pacific backwaters, harbor seals basking on the mudflats, Southern sea otters swimming among blades of kelp and the distant din of traffic trucking along Highway 1, which separates the Monterey Bay marine preserve from the ocean.
Simon says she started jotting down ideas in the morning — her mother would read them over later — as a creative, literary escape from their taxing reality. That daily practice culminated in a 368-page murder mystery set in the slough, which is as vivid a character as any protagonist — a place where beauty and serenity collide with menace and danger.
Nina Simon, the author of “Mother-Daughter Murder Night,” at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, Calif., on May 24, 2024. While some readers have even drawn comparisons between Simon’s novel and the beloved coming-of-age murder mystery, Delia Owens’ “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Simon said she had none of those titles in mind when she and her mom first started scribbling down scenes.
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