A LONG TIME AGO ON VERONICA MARS: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, an original mystery by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham:

• Two months have passed since the movie, and it’s SPRING BREAK! Neptune’s popping off! Until two young women disappear, first Hayley and then Aurora, presumed kidnapped.
• The spring breakers stay away and the Neptune Grand is losing business, so the glamorous owner hires Veronica to investigate the disappearances.
• This case means Veronica gets back into her sexy disguises to infiltrate house parties run by the heirs to a Mexican drug cartel. 
• Lamb doesn’t care about the Mexican drug cartel heirs, and neither should you because - BIG TWIST - they have nothing to do with it! They’re just rich guys throwing parties. Turns out, Hayley went off to Bakersfield and was murdered by her jealous boyfriend :(
• And, BIG TWIST, Aurora is part of her own kidnapping plot with her scammer dad, who she’s also double-crossing to get the ransom money!
• Oh and BIG TWIST, Aurora’s stepmom is LIANNE MARS!

Join Jenny Owen Youngs and Helen Zaltzman to investigate the first Veronica Mars novel, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, and get stuck into such mysteries as the benefits of starting a text message with “URGENT!”, where you buy sheets for round beds, and why you'd choose a maraca as a weapon.

Content note: Veronica Mars contains heavy themes, and this episode includes storylines concerning murder, violence and alcoholism.

For more about this episode, and to read the transcript, visit the podcast’s official site http://VMIpod.com/book1.

This episode was edited and mixed by Helen Zaltzman; the music is by Martin Austwick and Jenny Owen Youngs. Lo Dodds brings us the LoDown.

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