Tour guide Emily Andrew and her comical group of aging Iowa
travelers are taking a tour of Scandinavia this time
around. Also along is Emily's transgender ex-husband, Jack
(who's now known as Jackie). Jackie has just had her first
romance novel published, and she makes sure that everyone
knows it by handing out copies of her book to whoever shows
an interest in it.
Along with the Iowa contingent is a group of Florida
retirees. The so-called leader of this group trashes the
book, which really sets Jackie's blood to boiling. When the
outspoken woman is later found murdered, Jackie is the
prime suspect. Good thing she has an alibi. Then another
Floridian is murdered, and it looks like Emily is again
going to have to deal with a killer in their midst.
It doesn't help matters any that there's been a tornado
back home in Iowa, which causes havoc with all of Emily's
upcoming wedding arrangements. Now, with her mother making
alternate plans for the occasion, the nuptials could turn
out to be a real fiasco. Oh, this is turning out to be some
vacation!
The sixth installment of this delightfully humorous travel
series is just as much fun as all the others have been. I
feel like a part of this touring contingent of quirky Iowa
octogenarians, Emily has become my close friend, and I
can't wait for the dead bodies to start turning up. It will
be interesting to see where Ms. Hunter decides to send all
of us in her next book, since the bank that's been
sponsoring all the previous tours has been blown away in
the tornado.
Sure, Jackie Thum's newly published novel might not be
Hemingway, but bad reviews from her fellow travelers have
Emily Andrew's transgender ex-husband (Jackie was formerly
Jack) steaming like a sauna. It's a dismal start to their
Scandinavian tour, and group leader Emily is getting that
sinking feeling in Helsinki: something fishy this way
comes.
When Jackie's most outspoken critic, a Floridian
from a picture-perfect gated community called The Hamlets,
is found dead, suspicion falls on Jackie -- who surprises
everyone with an airtight alibi. But when another guest
turns up dead, Emily realizes there is a killer hiding
among them. Herrings, both red and pickled, abound on a
Norwegian fjord cruise -- and Jackie is suddenly nowhere
to be found.
With her mother arranging a wedding disaster for Emily back
home in Iowa, Emily must somehow salvage her nuptials from
overseas while icing a killer -- before someone else meets
a nasty Finnish.