Death in Nostalgia City

Theme park re-creates the '70s – But sabotage kills tourists

"Stressed out" has been ex-cop Lyle Deming's default setting for years, but his new job, driving a cab in an Arizona theme park, promises to cure his chronic anxieties. Nostalgia City is the ultimate resort for anyone who wants to visit the past. A meticulous re-creation of an entire small town from the 1970s, it's complete with period cars, music, clothes, hairstyles, food, fads, shops, restaurants, hotels—the works.

The relaxed, theme-park atmosphere is just what Lyle needs—until rides are sabotaged and tourists killed. Then park founder, billionaire "Max" Maxwell, drafts Lyle into investigating—unofficially.

As the violence escalates and employees get rattled, Lyle gets help. Kate Sorensen, the park's PR director—and former college basketball star—becomes another incognito investigator. Kate is six-foot-two-and-a-half-inches tall and drop-dead gorgeous.

Although she is drawn to the attractive older man with a quirky sense of humor, Kate harbors doubts about Lyle's stability and his detective's instincts. Regardless, she follows her boss's orders and teams up with Lyle on an investigation that takes them to Boston and back to Arizona.

They go undercover to expose a corporate conspiracy that could take down the theme park.  As they race to beat a deadline, they become the object of a manhunt by police and by thugs who want to reach them before the police the police do.

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Recommended: Death in Nostalgia City is recommended for book clubs by the American Library Association.

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"The book pulled me in from the very beginning and never let me go….
There is so much to love about this book. The characters are well developed, well rounded and three dimensional. Both Lyle and Kate have very many human traits that we all have. Both Lyle and Kate come into each other's lives and into the investigation with baggage. Kate has problems with commitments. Lyle really struggles with his anxiety disorder. They're realistic and easy to start caring and worrying about."
-- Open Book Society

"Bacon handles a complicated story well, giving us realistic characters in bad trouble. By the end of the book, he ties it all up in a satisfying conclusion. Death In Nostalgia City has good characters, a fast-moving story, complicated twists, and a great climax."

–Todd Borg, best-selling author of the Owen McKenna Tahoe mysteries series