Travel Can Be Murder: Book 3
Publication Date: May 20, 2020
A Mother’s Day trip to the Netherlands turns deadly when a guest plummets from a windmill. Was it an accident or a murder? For Lana Hansen, the answer will mean freedom or imprisonment for someone close to her…
Wanderlust Tours guide Lana Hansen and her mother, Gillian, haven’t seen eye to eye in over a decade, ever since Lana was wrongly fired from her job as an investigative reporter. So when Lana’s boss invites Gillian to join her upcoming Mother’s Day tour to the Netherlands, Lana is less than pleased.
What could be worse than spending ten days with her estranged mother? Lana is about to find out…
The tour begins on a high note when the majority of guests bond during their visit to the Keukenhof flower gardens and a cruise around the picturesque canals of Amsterdam.
Despite her initial reservations, Lana thinks this might be the best group she had ever led. Until she discovers one of her guests – a recent retiree named Priscilla – is the person who destroyed her career in journalism.
All Lana can see is red. But circumstances dictate that she figure out a way to lead the tour, make peace with her mother, and not murder her guest. She doesn’t know whether she can handle the pressure.
Lana needn’t worry. Shortly after their fight, Priscilla falls off the balcony of a historic windmill at Zaanse Schans. Was she pushed or simply careless? The investigating officers suspect murder – and topping their suspect list is Lana’s mom!
Can Lana save Gillian? Or will her mother end up spending the rest of her days in a Dutch prison?
Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series are heartwarming stories about making friends, traveling, and celebrating new experiences. Join tour guide Lana Hansen as she leads tourists and readers to fascinating cities around the globe on intriguing adventures that often turn deadly.
Death by Windmill: A Mother’s Day Murder in Amsterdam is the third book in the Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series by Jennifer S. Alderson, and I’m happy I have the additional books in hand to read as well. Each cozy mystery takes me to a new destination, and the descriptions of the sites, the foods, and the modes of transportation make me feel like I am there. Even if I never get to travel to Amsterdam, I feel like I already have been there since there are so many wonderful details woven throughout.
We are reunited with many characters we’ve met before. Lana is one of the tour guides of Wanderlust Tours, which is owned by her landlord, Dottie. They have a good relationship until Dottie takes it upon herself to try and reunite Lana and her mother, who have been estranged for ten years. The Mother’s Day trip is filled with mothers and daughters, and Dottie even decides to travel with them. We got to know the characters a little at a time, and some were just not likable to me.
There are twists and turns to the story, filled with travel adventures and several deaths, some of which could be murder. Amateur sleuth Lana decides to sift through the clues to see who is the number one suspect, especially since her mother seems to be the one the police are most interested in. As more and more intel is gathered and clues sifted through, there are many suspects with a grudge against the deceased. But what about the others?
There is closure when the whodunnit is solved, and a sweet romance is added to the mix. The story had a good flow, but many essential details seemed to be overlooked until the end of the story, and it was wrapping up. I figured out whodunnit earlier as I connected the dots sooner than the others.
If you like to armchair travel to new places or places you’ve already been with a bit of mystery and romance, pull up a chair and relax as you turn the pages to figure out whodunnit with Death by Windmill!
Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, raised in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. After traveling extensively around Asia, Oceania, and Central America, she moved to Darwin, Australia, before settling in the Netherlands. When not writing, she can be found in a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip. Jennifer’s love of travel, art, and culture inspires her award-winning Zelda Richardson Mystery series, her Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries, and her standalone stories.
