Travel Agency Blues

Travel agency branch manager Prudence Peters is having a bad day. In Downsized to Death by Patricia Gulley, Pru learns her company is closing some of its offices in Oregon, laying people off and requiring her to re-apply for her job.

A messy firing of one of Pru's employees by state manager Claudia Gage complicates matters, especially when the fired employee Meg disappears and Claudia is found dead in her home over the weekend. The home office doesn't want any bad publicity and they pester Pru and her staff not to discuss the murder and disappearance. This hampers the investigation as they are not cooperating with the police either.

Pru assures Meg's worried mother that she will help discover where Meg is, but the search leads nowhere. In the office there are petty jealousies and territorial concern over bookings and groups and even a history of past violence.

Although somewhat dated in the travel agency setting, the plot is complicated and the added

undermining of the investigation by the head office is an interesting perspective on corporate America and "above the law" attitude and lack of concern for employees. There appears to be a bit of a romance between Pru and the detective in charge of the case, but it doesn't get too far. Maybe in the next book it will. Find the next book here.