Dream Town by Lee Goldberg

Item: Dream Town
Rating: 5
Author: BaronessMom

Posted January 16, 2024 by BaronessMom in Mystery, Review / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Dream Town

by Lee Goldberg

Series: Eve Ronin #5
Series Rating:

Published by Thomas & Mercer on January 16, 2024
Setting: Calabasas, California
Genres: Police Procedurals Mystery
Pages: 300
Format: Audible Audiobook, Audio CD, ebook, Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback
Source: the Author
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million
Also in this series: Lost Hills, Bone Canyon, Gated Prey, Movieland

A gated dream town for the megarich becomes a murderous nightmare in a riveting Eve Ronin thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined.

Eve discovers that Kitty’s surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang―all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father.

Eve’s grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death…and it’s coming for her.

Dream Town by Lee Goldberg is amazing! Once I finally got to sit down and read it, I couldn’t put it down.

Will Eve and Duncan find Kitty’s murderer?

The Detectives

Eve and Duncan are on another high-profile case. This time, Eve is dubbed the celebrity detective. Duncan finds it appropriate, and Eve hates the name.

Duncan enjoys being involved with the Ronin television series, while Eve finds that it gives her vertigo. She doesn’t like that her life is being filmed with another person’s spin. Especially when that spin seems like it may be more accurate than Eve wants it to be.

I like that Eve is making changes in her life for the better. She is listening to Duncan’s philosophy about doing police work. Some of it is working, and some not so much. I also like her relationship with Daniel. The two of them are alike enough that they fit well. The weird part for me is her father’s new role in her life. It makes me wonder if he will wear her down. Vince has me on the fence about whether he is genuinely interested in his daughter or looking out for himself.

The Cases

There are multiple cases in which Eve and Duncan are working, like cops in the real world. We start with bones found in the park and move on to a couple of murders. The first murder is of a reality star, and the next is that of a rap star. Eve knows the two newest murders are connected; she must figure out how to find the truth. Duncan agrees with her. Eve and Duncan split up a few times throughout the story, and Eve learns a few new things from other agencies.

I like it when Eve realizes what really happened. It’s like a lightbulb goes on, and she knows the truth.

Five Stars

My rating for Dream Town by Lee Goldberg is five stars. I love this series. The characters are entirely realistic. The mystery plots are right out of the news but with a witty twist. It feels like you are watching a television series.

I highly recommend this book and the series if you haven’t started it already.

The Eve Ronin Series

Check out the interview with Lee Goldberg from a few years ago HERE.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Dream Town by Lee Goldberg.

Until the next time,

About Lee Goldberg

New York Times Bestselling author Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee.

Goldberg broke into television with a freelance script sale to Spenser: For Hire. Since then, his TV writing & producing credits have covered a wide variety of genres, including sci-fi (seaQuest), cop shows (Hunter, The Glades), martial arts (Martial Law), whodunits (Diagnosis Murder, Nero Wolfe), the occult (She-Wolf of London), kid’s shows (R.L. Stine’s The Nightmare Room), T&A (Baywatch, She Spies), comedy (Monk) clip shows (The Best TV Shows That Never Were) and total crap (The Highwayman, The New Adventures of Flipper).

He’s written and produced TV shows in Canada (Murphy’s Law, Cobra, Missing), England (Stick With Me Kid, She Wolf of London) and Germany (Fast Track: No Limits). His mystery writing for television has earned him two Edgar Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America.

His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he wrote the eight books in the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced. He followed that up by writing fifteen bestselling novels based on Monk, another TV show that he worked on. His Monk novels have been translated and published in Germany, Poland, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, and many other countries.

In addition to his writing, he’s worked as an international TV development expert and consulting producer for production companies and major networks in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

But perhaps he’s best known for his pioneering work mapping the human genome and negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Goldberg lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his daughter and still sleeps in Man From U.N.C.L.E. pajamas.