Cover design by Alan Lastufka.

Ode to Murder

🏆 Bestseller
✎ Editor's Pick

“A smart, snarky series… Cozy mystery readers will adore Larkin Day.”
– BookLife, Editor’s Pick

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Publication Date

October 4, 2022

Genres

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Print Length

228 Pages

ISBN

978-1-733691-95-6 (Paperback)
978-1-733691-96-3 (eBook)

About Ode to Murder

Join Larkin on her first mystery!

Larkin Day just moved back home—at 35 years old. With no money, no job prospects, and nowhere to live except her mother's guest bedroom, Larkin is pretty sure this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to her.

Then her mother signs her up for community choir.

Then the accompanist asks her out—and stands her up.

Then he turns up dead.

Larkin didn't kill him, of course—but she quickly learns that there are plenty of other women who might have wanted him gone. Although Larkin never planned on becoming an amateur detective, she finds herself getting more and more involved with the death of Harrison Tucker—while making new friends, setting her mother up with a local police officer, tackling six figures of student loan debt, discovering the benefits of protected bike lanes, and learning what ingredients are (and aren’t) in a scotcheroo.

A fast-paced, cleverly-plotted mystery that includes both Beethoven and baking, Ode to Murder is for cozy fans who have been hoping to find a Millennial-aged amateur detective who practices old-fashioned sleuthing in a world of smartphones and social media.

Praise

Ode to Murder is refreshing, and definitely recommended for fans of a good mystery. But it’s also a great read for anyone who, like Larkin, is searching for a new story that can reach them in surprising, unexpected ways.”
– IndieReader

“…an entertaining whodunit with a captivating amateur sleuth.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“A smart, snarky series… Cozy mystery readers will adore Larkin Day.”
– BookLife, Editor’s Pick

“Dieker’s prose is tight, sharp, witty, and enjoyable. The mysteries are well put together and fun… packed with some scares, thrills, and a fantastic cast.”
Horror DNA

Ode to Murder News
September 4, 2023
Ode to Murder, the first entry in Nicole Dieker’s Larkin Day Mystery Series, was listed as one of just 36 “Indies Worth Discovering” by Kirkus in their latest print edition…
December 16, 2022
Publishers Weekly recently published their review of Nicole Dieker’s Ode to Murder. We were pleased to read just how much they enjoyed this first-in-series cozy mystery…
October 3, 2022
We’re very excited to announce the second book in the Larkin Day Mystery Series, Like, Subscribe, and Murder, which will be released on January 17, 2023. It is the second entry in the Larkin Day Mystery Series…
August 12, 2022
Ode to Murder, Nicole Dieker’s first entry in her new Larkin Day Mystery Series, received a very positive Kirkus review today…
About the Author

Nicole Dieker is a writer, teacher, and musician. She began her writing career as a full-time freelancer with a focus on personal finance and habit formation; she launched her fiction career with The Biographies of Ordinary People, a definitely-not-autobiographical novel that follows three sisters from 1989 to 2016.

Dieker writes the Larkin Day mystery series. She also maintains an active freelance career; her work has appeared in Vox, Morning Brew, Lifehacker, Bankrate, Haven Life, Popular Science, and more. Dieker spent five years as writer and editor for The Billfold, a personal finance blog where people had honest conversations about money.

Dieker lives in Quincy, Illinois with the great love of her life, his piano, and their garden.

nicoledieker.com

About the Series

A cozy-comedy-nerdy-mathy-theater-geeky mystery series with a lot of jokes and a few scares.

View the Larkin Day Mystery Series.