Death on the Danube by Jennifer S. Alderson

Death on the Danube is the first book in Jennifer Alderson’s Travel Can Be Murder series. As a cozy series debut, this book is sure to leave the readers wanting for more.

Lana Hansen is struggling to make ends meet. After being fired from her job as an investigative reporter ten years ago, Lana’s been finding it difficult to find her calling. Just a month ago, her husband of many years left her for a younger woman. Devastated by the way life’s been treating her, Lana needs a second chance – a chance that can change the course of her life for good.

Lana’s landlord asks Lana to go to Budapest as a tour group guider. The current guide is injured and Dotty’s left with no choice but to send someone or cancel the tour. Cancelling the tour means loss and Dotty is in no way going to put her 5-starred tour services in jeopardy. Off goes Lana to Budapest. But the adventure turns into a nightmare when the fellow guide Carl turns up dead – his body is found floating in the Danube.

Carl was a playboy. He was known to be a ladies man. From dating an older woman (who is also in the tour group) to jilted lover Jess, it looks like many in the group had a bone to pick with Carl. The tour must go on. Lana isn’t comfortable roaming around with the group, especially knowing that one of them is a killer.

The first thing I noticed about this story is the writing. My, my! The writing is absolutely brilliant. Since this is the first book in the series, there isn’t much of a mystery but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the book. The character development is good – each and every character is well portrayed.

The only niggle I had with the story is the murder doesn’t happen till the second half of the book. But as I said before, as a cozy series debut, I am willing to overlook this point. In other words, the story starts on a slow note but picks up pace in the second half.

My favourite part of the story is when the Fabulous Five (these ladies are awesome!!) and Lana sit in the hot tub, making a list of suspects. – this is when Lana has a light-bulb moment. The identity of the killer was unexpected – although they were acting a tad weird after the murder.

If you like to read books of this genre, I recommend you to give Death on the Danube a try. I am certainly looking forward to reading the next book in this series. Lana has a beau in book #2!! Valentine’s day in Paris! Wowity!! And of course, a murder! Um…

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There’s a giveaway for this tour. Giveaway details are here.

Many thanks to Lori for the blog tour invite.