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Murder Packs a Suitcase

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Murder Packs a Suitcase

Mallory Marlowe finds herself in need of employment after the sudden death of her husband. While she was primarily a homemaker and mother she had continued to write articles for a local paper so she felt that she could handle the position of a Travel Writer for a rather well known lifestyle magazine. Excited by the prospect of a working trip to Florida to seek the type of entertainment she enjoyed as a child she accepted the job when it was offered to her.

Little did Mallory know the number so surprises that were waiting for her in Florida, the diverse people she would meet and the new found sense of empowerment she would experience. Cynthia Baxter takes the reader along on the "Old Florida" excursion. She describes the places that many people who remember the Sunshine State pre-Disney, find so familiar.

This is an entertaining cozy, although there are many suspects that are presented almost to the end of the book. There are no big surprises, but it is a nice book to read when the reader needs a little junk food for the brain. I'm looking forward to following Mallory on her next adventure.

Mallory Marlowe is ready to pick up the pieces. It's been six months since her husband died in an accident. She's not sure she is ready, but she heads out to interview with The Good Life and lands a job as their new travel writer. Her first assignment is to rediscover the Old Florida tourist destinations that tend to be overshadowed now by The Mouse and his competitors. She'll be part of a press tour of the area.

The trip gets off to a rocky start when Mallory has a nasty run in with a fellow passenger on the plane. But she shakes it off, until she discovers that Phil Diamond is part of the trip. And he's just as nasty at the group's initial meeting. Still, Mallory is shocked to find him floating face down in the fountain before their reception that evening. The police quickly zero in on her as a suspect even though she'd just met the man. Determined to clear herself, Mallory talking to her traveling companions and discovers just how small the world of travel writing really is. Is one of her new friends a killer?

This is the first book in a new series by the author, but the first of her books I've read. Now I'm going to have to go back and read her other series because I enjoyed this one. I fell for Mallory right away, partially because of her strength. She is obviously still grieving, but it is never a factor in the story. And I like the hint of future romance this book opens up. The cast of characters is very colorful and therefore easy to remember.

The story gets sidetracked by the traveling occasionally, but most of those trips do advance things. There are plenty of suspicions before the book reaches its logical conclusion, one that was very satisfying. And the trips? I now have a list of places I want to visit in Florida.

There was one aspect of the plot that didn't feel quite believable to me. And I did feel Mallory was very stupid at the end. But overall, these are minor complaints.

These characters kept running through my head when I wasn't reading. My bags are already packed for Mallory's next destination.

Mallory Marlowe is a recent widow. Her daughter Amanda has been encouraging her to get a job. So she interviews at the magazine The Good Life and ends up being hired as their new travel writer. She has to travel for one week per month. Her first trip is to Orlando, FL, looking for Old Florida.

As Mallory is getting ready for her trip, Amanda has come home with an identity crisis and Mallory's 18-year-old son Jason has parked himself on her couch instead of finding a job. He recently started and quit college. Mallory is torn about leaving them, but knows she needs to do this to prove she can.

When she arrives in Orlando at the Polynesian Princess Hotel, she soon meets the other travel writers on this trip. Then Phil Diamond, an obnoxious fellow travel writer, is found speared to death in the Bali Ballroom. Mallory becomes the prime suspect. Fearing the police won't discover the identity of the real killer, she sets out to uncover it herself.

Mallory finds that lots of people didn't like Phil Diamond. How can she find the killer? And can she find them before her week in Florida is up?

I loved this book. Mallory is such a fun character. I can't wait to read more books in this series. I loved the travel writer angle. And I could really relate to Mallory and her college-aged children.

The author has such a great sense of humor and helps the reader feel as if they have visited each of the sights Mallory visits. It was great that she visited many out of the ordinary sites.

I like the fact that each book will be sent in a different location. I wonder if any of the travel writers on this trip will be in future books. I hope so.

I can't wait to read the next book in this series. I highly recommend this book.

On her first travel writing assignment, Mallory Marlow is given the task of exploring Orlando, Florida in search of the 50's, 60's and 70's kitsch that made Orlando the tourist attraction that it used to be. Do the old crocodile farms and ice cream coned shaped attractions still exist in this Disneyesque environment. She is on a mission to find out and to share it with her readers.

While on this vacation jaunt, a smarmy veteran travel writer is killed and since Mallory was the one to find the body, it must have been her that did the killing. Well, that just won't do, she has an article to write, and a family to get back home to; so, she'll just solve the crime in her free time. She's a mom, she can do anything.

But when her present and her past suddenly merge, everything that she thought was true appears to get mixed up and Mallory really is in for the fight of her life.

This was quite a fun book, Baxter really gave the reader the feel of old Orlando and with travel tips and real reviews of Florida attractions, it gave quite a unique overall feel to this book.

As a big fan of the Reigning Cats and Dogs series, I was thrilled to find that there was a new series by Cynthia Baxter about a travel writer. I hoped that the book would be in the style of Maddy Hunter or Nancy Fairchild, but I was very disappointed in Mallory. She just wasn't particularly interesting, and neither were her characters. There was no humor in the book.

I'm a Florida resident, so the discriptions of the attractions interested me, but they should not have been detailed so heavily in the story. They took time away from the action and character development in what was a very predictable mystery.

I will read the next in the series, for I have already bought it, but if it doesn't improve, I think that will be my last read in this series.

I won't be running out to buy the next book in this series. This one just wasn't that good. The characters and plot were just too flat and I became really tired of wading through pages of detailed tourist's attraction descriptions while trying to stick with the story. I wanted a good mystery, not a travel guide for Florida.

I was quite surprised that Murder Packs a Suitcase wasn't better. Mallory Marlowe, a recently widowed travel writer on her first assignment, is humorless and stiff. She is also unconvincing in her motivation to solve the murder of an obnoxious fellow writer on a press junket.

Traveling to Orlando, Florida, Mallory's assignment is to discover the old-time kitschy Florida. Wouldn't you think that would result in a book filled with quirky places and characters? In Murder Packs a Suitcase, they might as well have been visiting the Accounting Hall of Fame. A number of sites are mentioned that fit the "in bad taste but with a sense of humor" category of kitsch, but the descriptions are lifeless. Mallory's fellow writers don't have much depth either, each one is described only enough to meet the requirements of the story with little dimension.

If I'd liked Mallory better the other weaknesses of the story might have been tolerable. She just isn't drawn in an appealing way. Her dips in self confidence combined with her critical reaction to every other character she encounters and motives that I found hard to suspend disbelief to accept left me wishing the book was over with by about the halfway point. With a bit of humor and zest to give it some charm, this story could have been lifted out of the mediocre. I know Mallory is a recent widow and she's not going to be all about girlish fun, but I didn't really enjoy reading about her as this book presents things.

Author Cynthia Baxter steps into a new genre with this book, after publishing several mystery novels about veterinarian-turned-sleuth Jessica Popper, a.k.a., the "Reigning Cats and Dogs" series.

Recently widowed Mallory Marlowe is looking to get back into living her life following the death of her husband, and while applying for a part-time job as a typesetter at the New York-based Good Life magazine, she ends up getting a gig as their regular travel writer, responsible for taking one all-expenses paid trip a month to produce a 2,000-word piece for the high-end glossy - and getting paid well, to boot.

Her first assignment takes her to Orlando, Florida where she's part of a press trip consisting of several travel writers, each covering a different beat or publication genre. Many of the travel writer stereotypes are covered: Mallory, of course, covers the more expensive beat. There is also the budget travel magazine writer, the seniors' travel writer, and the online website travel writer. Each writer has his or her own characteristics: the budget writer is always looking to cut corners, get everything as cheap as possible; the senior just "wants to have fun;" and the online writer is actually one of those types that sometimes appear on real press trips - he's obnoxious, condescending, rude - and (unlike any press trips I've been on) he ends up getting killed four chapters into the book.

That last point is an important one for me: my rule is, there better be a murder in the first four chapters of any mystery, or it will most likely be a dud!

In this story, there is also a perky tourism board rep and a harried hotel manager.

Of course, Mallory ends up becoming one of the chief murder suspects, so in addition to trying to get to all the tourist attractions so she can meet her assignment requirements, she's trying to solve the case.

There are the usual suspects (everybody!) and the twists, turns and red herrings that make the "cozy" mystery sub-genre so enjoyable.

I'm a professional travel writer myself, and I've been on many press trips. The author does a pretty good job of capturing what it's like to be on a press trip; however, one thing that struck me as a bit odd is the fact even though all these writers are on the same "trip" with the same flight schedules, hotel, etc., they all have completely individual itineraries that they plan themselves, with absolutely no input from the tourism board, other than the supply of some free passes to local attractions. The tourism board is credited with organizing it, however. (Not much to organize, really - the writers even book their own flights.)

I've been on individual press trips as well as group trips, and while I have no doubt there may be some group trips organized where every writer is completely on their own 100 per cent of the time, it did seem a bit odd, since it's outside my realm of experience. Usually with a group press trip, there are some group activities, but other than an opening and closing dinner, there are none organized on this one. Certainly, it did provide a different perspective.

One of the unique aspects of this book I liked is the actual "travel story" at the end. Apart from the actual narrative, the author has written a 2,000-word magazine piece, complete with contact info and website links to all the places the fictional writer Mallory visits in the novel. Yes, they are all real destinations, and that lends a nice "realistic" feel to the fiction. It reminded me of the recipes included at the back of so many of the "gourmet/cooking-sleuth" mysteries that are so popular these days.

I really enjoyed it, although admittedly, I am a big mystery buff; by combining two of my favourite topics - one fiction, the other non-fiction - there is a better than average chance I'll like the end result (provided it's done well.) I do look forward to reading the next book in the series (published this past March): "Too Rich and Too Dead," a story which sees Mallory head to a Colorado ski resort.

Murder Packs a Suitcase starts what I hope is a long series of travel mysteries. The beginning is slow, but to be expected when introducing a new character and a new series. It speeds up nicely, and in the tradition of murder mysteries everywhere, throws in a red herring or two. So far, so good. Keep up the good work.

With the recent death of her beloved husband David and at the not so subtle shove by her adult daughter Amanda and encouraged by her eighteen years old somewhat self sufficient university bound and expert remote user son Jordon, forty-five years old Mallory Marlowe seeks employment. Even with a good endorsement from Carol the editor of the Rivington Record where Mallory freelanced she has doubts about getting the job as a travel writer at Good Life Magazine. Managing Editor Trevor Pierce hires her because he believes she will bring maturity not beer to her articles. He expects her to go on location up to a week a month.

Her first assignment is to visit Orlando along with other writers to see what is left of the affectionately dubbed "Old Florida". When odious writer Phil Diamond is murdered, the police suspect Mallory killed him as she holds the murder weapon when his corpse is found floating in a pool at the Polynesian Princess Hotel. Not trusting the cops to do a complete inquiry, Mallory investigates only to conclude everyone on the writer's junket had a motive to see Diamond dead. As she continues her responsibilities for the Good Life by staying on tour, Mallory begins to solve the homicide.

The tour of Florida is the highlight of this entertaining amateur sleuth mystery as readers glimpse attractions outside of the big guns. Mallory is an interesting middle aged protagonist though one must wonder where the sudden spunk comes from to invesitgate even if she has investigative experience from being a reporter. Although at times the Old Florida tour supersedes the whodunit, fans will enjoy Marlowe's first travel anti-noir cozy.

Harriet Klausner