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Death Takes a Holiday: Beach Reads and More At last, you’ve gotten away on your much-anticipated holiday! Whether it’s some exotic locale thousands of miles from home or just your cottage at Regina Beach, it’s finally time to kick back, relax and soak up some rays. The hot sun, the warm sand, the azure water…but wait ---is that a trail of blood in the sand??? And what’s that sinister figure lurking among the beach umbrellas?!? In the world of murder mysteries, a surprising number of people meet with violent death while living it up on vacation. Below is a list of such books; if just one in a series meets the criteria, we’ve included the note (*series with…). We’ve also added a few series that take place in well-known holiday destinations (e.g. John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee series in Florida, Charles Knief’s John Caine series in Hawaii). Please read one (or make a selection of your own based on the same criteria) and come prepared to tell us about it.  Adler, Elizabeth – Sailing to Capri (2006) There’s Something About St. Tropez (2009) (both stand-alones, romantic suspense) Albert, Susan Wittig – Wormwood (2009) (Texas herbalist China Bayles is on vacation at a restored Shaker village in Kentucky when the village’s financial director is found murdered) (*series with China Bayles) Andrews, Donna - Murder with Puffins (2000) (Meg and her boyfriend's romantic Monhegan Island getaway is overshadowed by a hurricane). (*series with Meg Lanslow) Bain, Donald - Margaritas and Murder (2005) (mystery writer Jessica Fletcher investigates when her traveling companion is kidnapped on a Mexican vacation) (*series with Jessica Fletcher) Barr, Nevada – Borderline (2009) (park ranger supervisor Anna Pigeon is sent on vacation/stress leave to Big Bend National Park on the Texas-Mexico border to recover from killing a man in the line of duty) (*series with Anna Pigeon) Barron, Stephanie - Jane and the Man of the Cloth (1997) (Jane Austen on holiday in the seacoast town of Lyme) (*series with Jane Austen) Bartholomew, Nancy (Sierra Lavotini, an exotic dancer in Panama City, Florida, turns sleuth) The entire series, including Drag Strip (1999), Strip Poker (2001) Bidulka, Anthony (Saskatoon private detective Russell Quant is hired to accompany a wealthy business woman on a Mediteranean cruise. She is convinced one of her family is plotting to kill her.) (*series with Russell Quant) Buchanan, Edna (Britt Montero, newspaper crime reporter in Miami, Florida) The entire series including Miami, It’s Murder (1994), Love Kills (2007) Calvert, Candy (nurse Darcy Cavanaugh working on a cruise ship) The entire series, including Dressed to Keel (2006) and Mai Tai to Murder (2007) Clark, Carol Higgins - Burned (*series. Private detective Regan Reilly heads to the Hawaiian islands) - Snagged (*series. Regan visits a college friend in Naples, Florida) Cohen, Nancy J. (Florida beauty salon proprietor Marla Shore) The entire series, including Permed to Death (1999), Killer Knots (2007) Colt, Jennifer (private detective twins Kerry and Terry McAfee, Malibu) The entire series including The Mangler of Malibu Canyon (2006), The Con Artist of Catalina Island (2007) Corcoran, Tom (Part-time Key West crime-site photographer Alex Rutledge) The entire series including The Mango Opera (1998), Air Dance Iguana (2005) Craig, Philip (Jefferson “J. W.” Jackson, a 30-something ex-Boston cop, in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts) The entire series, including the first book: A Beautiful Place to Die (1989) Date, S.V. - Speed Week (1999) (Nick Van Horne sets out to murder his estranged wife, Daytona Beach) Dorsey, Tim (lovable Florida serial killer Serge Storms) The entire series including Hammerhead Ranch Motel (2000), Nuclear Jellyfish (2009) Elkins, Aaron - Twenty Blue Devils (1997) (*series; anthropologist Gideon Oliver, Tahiti) - Where There’s a Will (2005) (*series; anthropologist Gideon Oliver, Hawaii) - On the Fringe (2005) (professional golfer Lee Ofsted, in Hawaii) Enoch, Suzanne - Flirting with Danger (2005) (jewel thief Samantha Jellicoe in Palm Beach) Evans, Liz (Grace Smith, a private investigator in the resort community of Seatoun, England) The entire series, including the first book: Who killed Marilyn Monroe? (1997) Farmer, Jerrilyn - The Flaming Luau of Death (2005) (Hollywood caterer Madeline Bean is throwing a bridal shower in Hawaii) (*series with Madeline Bean) Flora, Kate - Death in Paradise (1998) (Maine detective Thea Kozak is attending an education conference in Hawaii) (*series with Thea Kozak) Freydont, Shelley - High Seas Murder (2000) (dancer/detective Lindy Haggerty on a Caribbean cruise ship) (*series with Lindy Haggerty) Goldberg, Lee Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii (2006) (obsessive-compulsive private detective Mr. Monk and his assistant Natalie go to Hawaii to attend a wedding) (*series with Mr. Monk) Gordon, Dan - Just Play Dead (1997) (Hawaiian Jewish detective Dani Kahana) Grabenstein, Chris (Danny Boyle and John Ceepak, policemen in a New Jersey tourist town) The entire series including Tilt-a-Whirl (2005), Hell Hole (2008) Green, Chloe - Fashion Victim (2002) (Texas fashion stylist Dallas O’Connor at a Caribbean music video shoot) Hall James W. (confirmed loner, beach bum Thorn, Florida Keys) The entire series, including Tropical Freeze (1989), Hell’s Bay (2008) Hart, Carolyn G. - Death in Paradise (1998) (in Hawaii), Set Sail for Murder (2006) (on a Baltic cruise) (*series with ex-reporter Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins “Henry O”) Heller, Jane - Princess Charming (1997) (three friends overhear a murder being plotted on their luxury Caribbean cruise ship) Hiaasen , Carl - Basket Case (2002) (down-on-his-luck reporter Jack Taggart, Florida). Hiaasen has written many others, also set in Florida Hunter, Maddy (tour guide Emily Andrew) the entire Passport to Peril series including: Hula Done It (2005), G’Day to Die (2006), Norway to Hide (2007) Kahn, Sharon - Don’t Cry for Me, Hot Pastrami (2001) (Ruby Rothman, widow of a rabbi from Eternal, Texas, on a Caribbean cruise) (*series with Ruby Rothman) Klensch, Elsa - Shooting Script (2005) (TV producer Sonya Iverson is in Hawaii to cover the opening of a luxury spa) Knief, Charles (private investigator John Caine, retired Navy SEAL, lives a quiet life on a sailboat moored in Pearl Harbor) The entire series, including Silversword (2001) Lansdale, Joe - Captains Outrageous (2001) (best buddies Hap Collins and Leonard Pine run into a heap of trouble on a cruise to Mexico) Matteson, Stefanie - Murder under the Palms (1997) (actress-turned-sleuth Charlotte Graham visits friends in Palm Beach) (*series with Charlotte Graham) MacDonald, John D. (Travis McGee, adventurer, philosopher, and private investigator, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida ) The entire series. All the books have a colour in the title e.g. Cinnamon Skin (1982) Massey, Sujata - Shimura trouble (2008) (antiques dealer and part-time spy Rei Shimura travels to Hawaii with her father to a birthday celebration) (*series with Rei Shimura) Morris, Robert (former pro football player Zach Chasteen ) The entire series including Jamaica Me Dead (2005) and Bermuda Schwartz (2007) Muller, Marcia - A Walk through the Fire (1999) (private investigator Sharon McCone goes to Hawaii to look into a series of accidents on a film set) (*series with Sharon McCone) Nasaw, Jonathan - Twenty-Seven Bones: a thriller (2004) (retired FBI agent E.L. Pender helps a friend track down a serial killer in the Virgin Islands) (*series with Pender) O’Brien, Maureen - Unauthorized Departure (2003) (After London police detective John Bright becomes the target of death threats, he and his girlfriend, Jude, decide to take a vacation to the South of France, but trouble follows when Jude disappears) (*series with John Bright) Parker, Barbara - Suspicion of Madness (2003) (Miami lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana head to Key West for a combined romantic vacation and murder investigation) (*series with Connor and Quintana) Penny, Louise – A Rule Against Murder/alternate title The Murder Stone (2009) (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is looking forward to celebrating his wedding anniversary at the remote, luxurious Manoir Bellechasse) (*series with Armand Gamache) Roberts, Les - The Cleveland Local (1997) (after a prominent Cleveland lawyer is found shot to death on a Caribbean island, private investigator Milan Jacovich is hired to investigate) (*series with Milan Jacovich) Shames, Laurence - all his titles are set in Florida including The Naked Detective (2000) (reluctant private investigator Pete Amsterdam, a retiree in Key West) Shelby, Jeff - Wicked Break (2006) (San Diego surfer/detective Noah Braddock is hired to find a missing college student) Skom, Edith - The George Eliot Murders (1995) (several murders at her luxury Hawaiian hotel is making English professor Beth Austin think the killer is one of her fellow guests) (*series with Beth Austin) Smith, Carol - Charmed Circle (1998) (the chance meeting of seven strangers on vacation in Antigua begins to look like something other than coincidence) Sussmann, Susan - Cruising for Murder (2000) (actress Morgan Taylor joins a Miami cruise ship’s entertainment cast) (*series with Morgan Taylor) Waiwaiole, Lono - Wiley’s Refrain (2005) (Oregon poker player and investigator Wiley, investigating the murder that takes him to Hawaii) (*series with Wiley) Wesley, Valerie Wilson - Where Evil Sleeps (1996) (Newark private detective Tamara Hayle on vacation in Jamaica) (*series with Tamara Hayle) White, Randy Wayne (Marion “Doc” Ford, ex-operative, marine biologist in Sanibel Island, Florida). The entire series, including Dead of Night (2005) Woods, Stuart – Loitering with Intent (2009) (After being dumped by his girlfriend, Stone Barrington is looking forward to working on a seemingly open-and-shut case in sunny Key West.) (*series with Stone Barrington) Zubro, Mark - Everyone’s Dead But Us (2006) (gay former baseball player Scott Carpenter vacationing with his partner on a remote Greek island) (*series with Scott Carpenter) sources: St. Charles Public Library site, Fiction_L Booklists, Novelist, Sharon’s Mystery Memos |
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