Death by Baguette by Jennifer S. Alderson

Paris, the city of lights … and murder?

Lana Hansen escorts five couples on an unforgettable Valentine-themed vacation to Paris. Three couples seem to know each other; the other two couples include a middle-aged husband-wife from Florida and Jane and Willow(Lana’s friends).

Lana’s moved on from her messy divorce; her friends coerce her to join an online dating site – Seattle Singles. She meets her might-be boyfriend Chad on the dating site. He’s sweet, charming and everything nice. They have gone out on three dates so far and everything seems to be working well. Lana lies about her current job to Chad – she says she works at a travel agency while in reality, she’s a tour guide for Dotty Thompson’s Wanderlust Tours.

So, the would-be lovers part with a kiss, promising to meet once they are back from their work-related tours. Randy, a trainee guide, Lana, Jane and Willow embark their journey to Paris. Lana is about to meet the rest of the guests when she spots Chad. What luck, the fellow is touring with Wanderlust tours! Sheesh!! On Valentine’s day, the group is enjoying a picnic under the Eiffel Tower and guess who drops dead? Our very own cheater bugger Chad!

The French Detective is convinced that Chad was poisoned and all the group members are now suspects – including Lana! Oh, fishcake! Lana must now find the real killer and prove her innocence.

Death by Baguette is the second book in Jennifer Alderson’s Travel Can Be Murder series. I read Death on the Danube a couple of months ago and I kept my expectations high for the second book in this series. So, did the story live up to my expectations? No, it went way beyond my expectations! In other words, exceeds expectations. 😀

I am in awe of Jennifer’s storytelling. She is so good at weaving amazing stories, I tell you. There’s Paris, the city of lights and love; it’s valentine’s week so love is in the air; the five couples who have joined the tour seem to be bickering over one thing or the other and Lana has a tough time controlling them; Chad, the cheater, is around too, throwing his attitude and ego in cartloads!; then comes a trip to the botanical gardens and the medicinal herbs section is visited – poisonous plants are discussed; Chad picks up a fight with almost everyone in the group; he sees (read hallucinates) a fireman on top of the Eiffel Tower and drops dead!

Did you find the clue in the above paragraph? Yeah, you might say ‘poisonous plants’. Then tell me this – who killed Chad? He picked up a fight with Bernie and Angie, commented on Willow and Jane’s ‘child’ situation, picked up a fight with Edward, ruined Tamara’s name and belittled his wife Miranda. Phew! Whole lotta suspects!

The second half of the story kept me on the edge of my seat. Lana has a lot of suspects in her list and is digging for clues. The twists and turns and surprises – Lana might never solve the mystery! The ending is nothing short of a nail-biting adventure. Remember what we were told when we were kids – never accept eatables from strangers? Well, in this story, the one who ‘poisoned’ the food was no stranger!

Sabine might be married to Henry but she’s always with Miranda. One might think they are more than just friends. Poor Henry teams up with Randy! Quite a Valentine’s tour, this! The ending is BRILLIANT! MIND-BLOWING! I was like, oh-no! Not again! But thankfully, the killer was caught and someone was ‘rescued’ from their wrath.

The pacing is perfect. The suspense surely keeps you hooked on to the story. Character Development is superb! The ending is fantastic – I never saw it coming. A Wham, Bam ending! The streets of Paris and the monuments are described so well that you feel like you are on a virtual tour to Paris. The mouth-watering pastries and other baked dishes – ooh la la! This might have nothing to do with the review: The group goes to a baking class and are taught how to make a Baguette. I couldn’t resist trying it at home. (If you are interested to know – the baguette came out really well. :D)

I highly recommend you to read Death by Baguette. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series – Death by Windmill (set in the Netherlands). 😀

There’s a giveaway for this tour. The goodies offered in this giveaway is something you wouldn’t want to miss. 🙂 Rafflecopter giveaway link’s here.

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Many thanks to Lori for the blog tour invite. 🙂