Skiing into Murder, Book Three of the Laura Morland Mystery Series
By Joan Lambert
4.5/5
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About this ebook
Laura Morland is back! So is Thomas, her enigmatic art detective love interest, who makes a dramatic and unexpected appearance as Laura rides a train through Switzerland's most magnificent scenery in winter. The reunion is heartfelt but smelly due to its location in a rest room. Thomas is posing as a train conductor while tracking down art stolen by the Nazis long ago, and to Laura's horror, gets shot at for his efforts. Then his vivacious daughter Catherine makes her own surprising appearance in the dead of a frigid winter night to announce that her father has disappeared.
Fortunately, Laura has Violet, the six foot red-headed detective friend who has recruited her to help prevent a kidnapping at an international conference, to assist in the search for Thomas. It soon becomes obvious that Violet’s case and the case Thomas is pursuing are intertwined. As the four sleuths try to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, they become embroiled in a bewildering variety of criminal activities that involve long-lost art, threats against innocent children, their old nemesis sex trafficking and illicit drug peddling. Romance flourishes despite the dangers, for Catherine as well as Laura and Thomas.
The action takes place in two of Switzerland's most prestigious ski resorts - Zermatt and Murren, small car-less towns in the Alps that nestle beneath Switzerland’s most famous peaks. Laura and her friends have a memorable breakfast in the Piz Gloria, the revolving restaurant on a mountain top where a well-known James Bond movie was filmed, and where they spot Thomas with a gun at his back below them. A wild chase on skis follows to an old bomb shelter (the Swiss have thousands of them) that holds clues to both mysteries as well as art treasures that have thus far eluded frantic efforts to find them. It also holds more than one criminal with a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead.
Blizzards, more murders, one on skis that threatens to send Laura careening head first down the icy slopes, an ancient castle in which the villains are finally and dramatically exposed, keep the pace going, as do attempts on Laura’s life that never quite work, mysterious intrigues and tangled relationships between children and parents who may or may not really be their parents. Train trips with incredible vistas provide moments of calm.
Above all, readers are treated to a stunning cast of new and unforgettable characters: the preposterous Lindsey, who may or may not be a CIA agent; Maurice, a Swiss Jew who lost everything in the holocaust and could be an art thief, but whose warmth brings comfort to young people especially; and Felicia, an eccentric woman whose life has been filled with adventure and at nearly 80 still is. Like many others in this mystery, she might be savior or sinner. Even the surprise ending may leave readers wondering who is truly the sinner. Our sleuths have no doubt about the identity of the villains; whether the killer or killers deserves that noxious label is open to doubt.
Joan Lambert
Joan Dahr Lambert is an academic who accidentally became a novelist when she set out to write her first book. Intended as a non-fiction account of female contributions to human evolution (about which she knows a great deal), it mysteriously transformed itself into a novel as words and scenes appeared in her mind. That was CIRCLES OF STONE (Simon& Schuster 1997), and she has never looked back. Since then she has written two other books in the Mother People Series: CIRCLES IN THE SKY, which tells the story of the next Zena, and ICE BURIAL, which tells the story of the 5,000 year old Iceman discovered as glaciers melted in Italy and will be published soon. On a lighter note, Lambert also writes British-style mysteries. Books One and Two in the series, WALKING INTO MURDER and WADING INTO MURDER feature Professor Laura Morland, an irrepressible sleuth with a love of adventure, an impetuous nature, and a tendency to be in the wrong place at the right time - all traits that land her in unusual and often dangerous situations as she pursues her love of walking in England and other parts of Europe. It is no accident that Laura goes on walking trips; so does her author. Nor is it accidental that Laura is a professor of Gender Studies. Lambert has studied gender issues for more than thirty years. Book Three in the series, SKIING INTO MURDER, continues Laura's adventures, this time on skis (a sport she also enjoys but at which she feels singularly inept) in the famous towns of Zermatt and Murren in Switzerland. Book Four, as yet unnamed, will return to England, this time in Cornwall; Book Five will take place in Norway. Writing the mysteries has been one of the most joyous occupations I could ever have imagined. It is FUN! Hard work, harder than a prehistoric novel because mysteries have to be so tightly plotted and one has to keep track of what is in every person's head at any given moment - no mean feat, I discovered. Mysteries also provide a way to talk about some of my passions - like female sex slavery and forced child prostitution - while maintaining a light-hearted tone. That's a challenge, and I like it. I also hope that by addressing these problems in an entertaining way, I can make more people aware of their existence and the need to address them. Thanks for listening to me! Joan Dahr Lambert
Read more from Joan Lambert
WALKING INTO MURDER: Book One of the Laura Morland Mystery series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wading Into Murder: Book Two of the Laura Morland Mystery Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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