Monday, November 18, 2019

Death on the Danube

The first in what promises to be an entertaining travel mystery series by Jennifer S. Alderson, Lana Hansen, newly divorced and down on her luck, finds herself as a tour guide on a Danube River trip. In Death on the Danube, Lana is looking forward to the trip. She has never been out of the country, but dreamed about traveling when she was married. 

For the most part the people on her tour are older and seem to be seasoned travelers, which is a relief for Lana. She joins the tour in Budapest and with no tour guide experience, she is flying by the seat of her pants. Her co-tour guide Carl has been elusive, but when she finally meets him, he tells her her role is small and not to worry. 

We've all looked forward to a vacation only to have two people in the group be obnoxious and rude. On top of that two women are fighting over tour guide Carl. One is a friend of Lana's, the other is a young waitress.

Sally announces that she and Carl are engaged and that sets Jess off.  Although she seems
oblivious to the obvious flirting going on between Carl and Jess, Sally finally reacts and pushes Carl overboard into the icy Danube. Fortunately the ship is in port and the crew is able to rescue him.

Another couple Helen and Tom seem to be arguing every day. Luckily for Lana, the Fabulous Five, a group of widowed ladies in the seventies, are the easiest tourists on the trip. They rarely need anything from her except for a few drinks and seem to have adopted her. 

Lana is entranced by the beauty of Budapest. The city glimmers with lights during the holidays and she is thrilled to be able to see many of the sights. As she starts to relax and enjoy the trip, things get messy though. Carl is found dead, tangled in a net attached to the river boat. Jess, naturally blames Sally and Sally blames Jess. It's all Lana can do to keep them separated. When the police arrest Sally, Lana knows she has to find the real murderer. 

The other books planned in this series take place in France and Holland. Can't wait to read them. 

2 comments:

Jennifer S. Alderson said...

Thank you so much, Christine! I am thrilled to see you enjoyed this book and are looking forward to the next two!! They sure are fun to write. Thanks for being so supportive of authors. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Denise Kainrath said...

Oh this sounds so fun!