Top O' the Mournin'

In this second installment in Maddy Hunter's enjoyable Passport to Peril mystery series, Emily Andrews escorts a group of senior citizens from Iowa on a trip to Ireland. The trip starts out in typical madcap fashion as Emily lands in the water when her horse and buggy driver falls asleep after drinking too much. Emily's trip starts to get better when Etienne Micelli, whom she met in Switzerland, arrives to spend some quality time with her. If only she can keep him away from her ex-husband Jack, who is now a gorgeous woman named Jackie! Throw in a couple of dead bodies, a haunted hotel, food fights, and a bad case of hives and Emily is off on another hilarious adventure!

I enjoyed this extremely funny mystery even more than I did the show more first one, Alpine for You. I especially like Emily's "Nana" who loves to take pictures of everything, no matter the situation. Hunter writes her speech in such a way that I can almost hear her accent as I read it. There are many funny scenes in the book to keep the reader laughing, including Emily's many attempts to be alone with Etienne and her "pajama party" with Jackie. The book is worth reading just for the dinner scene where everyone finds out who Jackie really is.

Hunter doesn't let the humor get in the way of the mystery, however, and there are a few unexpected twists along the way to the solution.

Highly recommended! show less

In this second Passport to Peril book, Emily Andrews and her group of senior citizens from Iowa head off to Ireland. When they arrive in Dublin they find out they are staying at a 5 star hotel. When Emily asks how they can afford it, the tour director, Ashley, informs her that they can stay there because the castle they will be staying at for the rest of the tour is cheap because it is haunted. When Emily et all arrive at BallyBantry castle the fun begins. Their new bus driver gets them there late because he gets lost. Etienne, Emily's boyfriend from Switzerland shows up to surprise her, but they do not spend much time together. Jackie Thum is hilarious. She is transgendered and used to be Jack, Emily's ex-husband. Of course dead bodies show more show up, the seniors have a lot of adventures and Emily helps to solve the mystery of the deaths and the ghosts. This book is funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I look forward to more in this series. show less

Emily escorts her retired group of Iowans to Ireland. Along the way the join up with a group from New York which includes, egads, her ex-husband Jack. Mayhem ensues as their stay at a "haunted" castle, now hotel, is marred by death. Can the appearance of her love interest from Switzerland save this disaster. Mmm, probably not. This second in the Passport to Peril Mystery series is just as funny as the first.

Not as good as the first, felt like the character kept jumping to "out-there" conclusions that made her come across as silly. Still, a good story and great characters and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

found main character a tad whiny and annoying