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MURDER ON SEX ISLAND

Jo Firestone

A Luella Van Horn Mystery

A sexy reality show. A missing contestant. A one-of-a-kind detective.
When a cast member goes missing from the hit reality show Sex Island, producers hire detective Luella van Horn to go undercover as a contestant and solve the case. What the producers don't know is that the enigmatic Luella van Horn is actually a woman named Marie Jones, a divorced exsocial worker from Staten Island attempting to lead a double life as a private eye. The local press couldn't get enough of Luella . . . until she horribly bungled her last case and a murderer went free.

Unable to resist the opportunity to be a part of her favorite trashy TV show, travel to a remote island, and embark on a journey for redemption, Marie-as-Luella takes the case. But the more she learns about Sex Island's dark underbelly, the harder it gets to make it out alive. She encounters shady producers, sleazy directors, contestants willing to do whatever it takes to win the $100,000 grand prizeand the dead body of the show's missing fan-favorite in her bathtub.

Will she find the killer? Will she find herself? Will she find . . . love?

Find out now, in Sex Island's most dramatic season yet.

Jo Firestone is a comedian whose work can be seen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Joe Pera Talks With You, High Maintenance, Shrill, and more. She can be heard on Maximum Fun's Dr. Gameshow, a podcast she co-hosts with Manolo Moreno, and Comedy Central's Everyday Decisions, a podcast she hosts all alone. Her album, "The Hits" is available on Comedy Central Records, and if you like puns, check out Punderdome: A Card Game for Pun Lovers. Her special, Good Timing with Jo Firestone, featuring 16 senior citizens from her online comedy class, is out now on Peacock.
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Published 2025-06-24 by Bantam

Comments

A deliciously clever murder mystery drenched in scandal, satire, and sheer fun. Murder on Sex Island is an absolute riot from start to finish. I loved it!

A clever, broadly funny mystery . . . Fast-paced fun that will appeal to fans of Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan and Jesse Q. Sutanto's Meddelin Chan.

Comedian Firestone's debut is hilariously absurd and over the top, showcasing Sex Island as a nightmare fantasy world . . . Luella is a fantastic and funny narrator whose can-do attitude frequently places her in bizarre and dangerous situations. With a long list of suntanned suspects, the true identity of the killer remains a mystery right up until Luella puts the pieces together. This silly and surreal cozy mystery is truly unlike anything else.c

I'm so sad Sex Island isn't a real TV show, because I'd be a fantastic host.

A humorous whodunit.

The perfect combination of three incredibly addictive ingredients: murder, reality television, and Jo Firestone's brilliant comedic mind. Murder on Sex Island is a fun, fast-paced mystery that's also jam-packed with hard jokes. I laughed out loud so many times reading it. Jo is a genius and my herothere is truly nothing she cannot do.

Bless Jo Firestone's quiet, mad genius. . . . Hilarious and completely brilliant, [a] bloodstained love-letter to reality-dating television.

film rights have been acquired in a competitive auction by Sony Pictures with Davis Entertainment.

[A] riotous puzzler . . . Firestone's confidence, well-drawn characters, and an overarching sense of ridiculousness make this sing.

A hilarious cozy. Firestone scores major points with her outrageous premise, laugh-out-loud one-liners, and fast-paced plot. It's a tropical blast of sun, sex, and sleuthing.

Once again the incomparable (and unhinged) Jo Firestone proves that she is damn funny.