Our story opens in the humid skies above Central America as Margot's flight nears its destination: Panama. This is the place where she and her boyfriend Max will create the first independent film of their new production company.

This is the sixth installment in the Margot O'Banion and Max Skull mystery series – but the smooth, breezy narrative gives you enough background to enjoy this book as a stand-alone story. Margot is a renowned film editor and Max is an even more famous director. Some fortunate events in previous books left them with an inheritance with which to start their new film company.

The two of them have a romantic history as well. Years ago, when first working together, they were lovers. This resulted in a long separation and a secret pregnancy. Much later, they met again, and Max was stunned to find that they had a son Luis that she had raised alone without contacting him.

But the details of their back-story, however intriguing, don't matter for this installment in which they are now a professional and personal couple. She's a calm and observant person. He's a blustering workaholic. You might wonder at first what she sees in him, but he injects lively conflict into every scene, and that adds spice to their lives.

So Max and Margot land in Panama City to start filming The Big Ditch (named after the Panama Canal). Immediately they find themselves beset with problems. Most vexing, their liaison in charge of the movie finances has disappeared – with their 4 million dollars for the movie! Max is about to blow a gasket. To his and Margot's surprise, several film industry acquaintances and even wealthy Panamanians offer to invest in the movie. Soon the potential investors are competing for the honor. Too bad one of them may be a Colombian gangster.

Good thing that Margot is the unflappable type because their problems then multiply beyond the financial. First, their lead actor Sean Peters arrives with his aggressive agent and his spiritual chaperone who both fight over who gets to control him.

This is one of the funniest sequences in the book. Sean, who is super-nice if a bit diminutively-sized, has recently converted to the mysterious spiritual movement of Fateology. In fact, he might remind you of a real-life movie star, also short, who is part of a similarly named religious group. Anyway, the Fateologists are sarcastically known as Ta-Tas, and Sean's Ta-Ta is fighting Sean's agent over every single decision in Sean's career.

Max almost blows another gasket when the gorgeous Ta-Ta kidnaps Sean off to a spiritual retreat before filming can begin. Not that his and Margot's production crew can do much, that is, without their missing funds. If that weren't enough, another Ta-Ta makes the scene: a crusty old actor, veteran of many action films, who is a self-proclaimed hit man in the war against drugs and corruption. Is he crazy enough to knock off one or more of the potential investors?

Soon clues pop up as to the location of their missing financial liaison and the money. But then a murder happens! Or does it? It's up to Margot to find the answers in this lively, fast-paced mystery-comedy that gives us an insider look at the gracious Panamanian culture and the gorgeous countryside. Location Location is available on Amazon through this link:

Location Location (Margot O'Banion Mysteries)