Death of an Obnoxious Tourist (A Dotsy Lamb Mystery)

by Maria Hudgins

Book Overview

Dotsy Lamb and her friend Lettie are on a group tour of Italy when an obnoxious woman, travelling with her two younger sisters, is murdered in her Florence hotel room. They team up with Marco... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373266111
• ISBN13: 9780373266111
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Worldwide Library
• Length: 249 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable read.

This was a fun little mystery with great location. I have been on a group travel tour similar to the one described in the book, so I especially enjoyed it how real it all felt. But even if I had not, it would have been fun following these characters around Italy and following Dotsy unravel the mystery. I will look forward to additional books in the series.

Travel Mystery

Death of an Obnoxious Tourist (2006) introduces Dotsy Lamb, a recently divorced empty nester from Virginia, traveling with her friend Lettie in Italy. The tour group includes a very annoying woman who manages to alienate everyone in the group, including her two sisters, by the second day. When she is murdered in Florence, Dotsy and Lettie decide to help find the killer. They form a perfect amateur team: Dotsy is logical and persistent while the scatterbrained Lettie has a near photographic memory. The suspect list quickly narrows down to the eclectic tour group. which includes a Canadian dairy farmer who carries pictures of his favorite cows and an Englishman who speaks in incomprehensible bursts. Traditional mystery fans will enjoy this humorous book. [...]

Great new travel mystery

Dotsy Lamb, history professor and recent empty nester, and her best friend Lettie decide to go on a tour of Italy. When they arrive, they find everyone is pleasant except for Meg Bauer, a very obnoxious woman. She is such a contract from her two younger sisters who are also on the tour. When Meg is found murdered, everyone is a suspect, especially her sister Beth. The attractive carabinieri captain, Marco Quattrocchi, is in charge of the investigation. Dotsy hooks up with him to try to help solve the murder. She also enlists the aid of Lettie who is very observant. Dotsy uncovers lots of motives since she insulted almost everyone in the tour group. The sisters and brother, who is back home, have inherited a nice sum of money. When another tour member dies, it appears to be an accident. Dotsy believes it is another murder and sets out to prove it. Can she prove it before anyone else dies, namely herself? I really enjoyed this book. Dotsy and Lettie are such great characters. I can't wait to see where they go in their next adventure. I hope there will be many books in this series. I loved the Italy setting as well as I've never been there, but I felt I had been there by the time I finished reading this book. The author did a great job with the characters, setting and plot. I highly recommend this book!

delightful amateur sleuth

After their five children left the nest, her husband dumped History professor Dotsy Lamb; to feel good about herself and to move on; she and her friend Lettie join a tour group visiting Italy. The tourists are an eclectic mix with all being very pleasant except Meg Bauer who, unlike her two sisters, is a harridan tearing into everyone even her kind siblings. When Meg is found murdered in her room by a knife that her sister Beth recently purchased, the police arrest gypsy street peddler Ivo Ramovic. Earlier he stole Beth and Meg's room key along with Beth's credit card and traveler's checks. When confronted he had both plus a large sum of cash. When evidence proves his innocence, suspicion shifts to Beth. Dotsy believes Beth is innocent so she plans to uncover the real culprit, but not before another group member is murdered. Readers will have no sympathy towards the culprit who took immense pleasure hurting others, but will feel for Beth, a nice person caught up in circumstances that make her look guilty as she had the motive and the opportunity and owned the means. The protagonist is an independent energetic senior citizen who shows her obstinacy with the trip to start her life anew and with the investigation. Maria Hudgins writes a delightful amateur sleuth tale and armchair detectives will enjoy seeing Italy through Dotsy's eyes. Harriet Klausner