Theme park re-creates the ’70s – But sabotaged rides kill 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. The relaxed 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.
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, restaurants, hotels, food, fads, shops—the works.
Reluctant to become a detective again, Lyle occasionally talks to himself aloud as he pokes around looking for answers. When the sabotage continues and employees get rattled, Lyle gets help. Kate Sorensen, the park’s PR director—and former college basketball star—becomes another incognito investigator. Except that she’s six-foot-two-and-a-half-inches tall and drop-dead gorgeous. So much for incognito.
Although Kate is drawn to the attractive older man with a quirky sense of humor, she harbors doubts about Lyle’s stability and his detective’s instincts. Regardless, she follows Maxwell’s orders and teams up with Lyle on an investigation that involves a local Native American tribe, 1970s history, an old west railroad, and a death close to home.
As Lyle digs deeper in the case, Maxwell tells him to back off. But he plunges ahead, certain the motives for the sabotage lie in Boston, Mass. Kate agrees to go undercover and she and Lyle race to beat a deadline and unravel a conspiracy of corporate greed and murder.
