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DEATH OF AN OBNOXIOUS TOURIST
by Maria Hudgins
Five Star, June 2006
275 pages
$25.95
ISBN: 1594144672


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Dotsy Lamb (what an unfortunate name) and her friend Lettie Osgood are enjoying their guided tour of Italy. They have made the usual conjectures about their fellow travelers, and have pretty much decided that they aren't particularly fond of Meg Bauer. Meg has a nasty habit of saying unpleasant things about others, usually in loud ringing tones, in front of the one person who least needs to know that particular bit of information.

When Meg is killed, the obvious suspect is a local named Ivo, who also happens to be a gypsy. The carabinieri would very much like for it to be that simple. Ivo had access to the room because he had stolen Beth's bag earlier that day; Beth is one of Meg's sisters, her roommate on this trip. Meg is stabbed with a knife that Beth bought, a knife that was in the room when Ivo was there.

Dotsy is not convinced. Dotsy is a middle-aged woman who has raised five children, only to have her husband leave her for a younger woman. She's not stupid, she can generally tell when she's being lied to, and she doesn't take a lot of crap. She thinks it is totally out of character for a thief to kill someone. She also thinks that Marco Quattrocchi, the captain handling the case, is ignoring all the other people with motives. And there are lots of them.

Meg cheated Beth and Amy, Meg's sisters, out of their inheritance when their mother died. It's possible that Shirley Hostetter still holds a grudge after many years because Meg got her fired by falsifying medical records back when they were both nurses together. Wilma Kelly has had some run-ins with Meg over environmental and animal rights issues, although one would think killing would go against the grain. There are other undercurrents that may or may not be connected to Meg's death.

Then Amy is killed, although it certainly looks like an accident. Dotsy and Lettie keep asking questions and keep getting in Captain Quattrocchi's way. This presents a problem for Dotsy, because the captain has expressed a most unprofessional interest in her. An interest she would like to keep.

DEATH OF AN OBNOXIOUS TOURIST is a good book. Not a great book, but they can't all be. The characters, for the most part, are believable and/or people we can get to like. The setting is lovely, and Hudgins captures feeling one gets on a tour after two too many museums, when one doesn't want to look at another masterpiece but would much rather put one's feet up and have a nice cold glass of iced tea.

The plot is OK, nothing phenomenally intricate but the red herrings are very good. I won't anxiously await the next Hudgins novel to come down the pike, but I'd be happy to read another one, given the opportunity. I think it's a good vacation book, interesting without being intense, light without being fluffy.

Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, July 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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