Lost Luggage
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Macavity Award 2018 nominee, Best First Novel
Left Award 2018 nominee, Best Debut Mystery Novel
"Thomas makes a rollicking debut with this comic mystery featuring an unconventional protagonist who proves to have the skills of MacGyver. With its sexy overtones, this fun, character-driven novel will appeal to Janet Evanovich fans." —Library Journal STARRED review
Cyd Redondo, a young, third-generation Brooklyn travel agent who specializes in senior citizens, has never ventured farther than New Jersey. Yet even Jersey proves risky when her Travel Agents' Convention fling, Roger Claymore, leaves her weak in the knees-and everywhere else-then sneaks out of her Atlantic City hotel room at three a.m.
Back in Brooklyn, when she reads about smugglers stopped at JFK with skinks in their socks or monkeys down their pants, she never imagines she will join their ranks. But days after the pet store owner next door to Redondo Travel is poisoned, Cyd wins a free safari. Her boss, Uncle Ray, wants to cash it in for computers, but Cyd is determined to go. When Roger turns up at the Redondo clan's door, Cyd invites him along as her "plus one." And just like that she is thrown heels-first into the bizarre and sinister world of international animal smuggling.
She and Roger arrive in Africa, luggage lost, to find two of Cyd's elderly clients in a local jail. She manages to barter them out, only to discover smugglers have hidden five hundred thousand dollars' worth of endangered parrots, snakes, frogs, and a lone Madagascan chameleon in the clients' outbound luggage. When Roger steals the bags—is the U.S. Embassy in on the contraband ring?—Cyd and the chameleon helicopter into the jungle to go after Roger on their own.
Wondering if "plus one" Roger is actually a minus, Cyd dodges Interpol, faces off with a cobra, steals a diplomatic bag, hijacks a FedEx truck, crashes an eco-safari, winds up in a leopard trap, and is forced to smuggle snakes in her bra. It's a scramble to find the smugglers, save her clients, and solve Mrs. Barsky's murder before finding herself at the top of the endangered species list.
Wendall Thomas
Wendall Thomas teaches in the Graduate Film School at UCLA, lectures internationally on screenwriting, and has worked as an entertainment reporter, script consultant, and film and television writer. Her novel Lost Luggage was nominated for the Lefty and Macavity awards for Best Debut Mystery.
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Reviews for Lost Luggage
12 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thank heavens! I've been waiting for years to find a successor to Janet Evanovich, and I've finally found one. For the first eight books, I was a passionate Stephanie Plum fan. I would read during my breaks, and I would laugh so much and so hard that everyone in the breakroom made me start reading aloud. I can only hope that Wendall Thomas's hilarious Cyd Redondo series will take flight (and not fall victim to stagnant characters and plot lines like the older series did).Before I go any further, I do want to warn animal lovers that this is not just a laugh-out-loud funny book; it's about the very serious topic of animal smuggling, and there are two short scenes which describe how the animals are readied for transport. These scenes made me yearn for instant karma: may every smuggler be readied for transport in the exact same way and be loaded on around-the-world flights only to end up as unclaimed baggage. I love Cyd Redondo. Growing up with a herd of "brousins" (a cross between brothers and cousins), she still gets called "Cyd the Squid," but those brousins keep their distance. Cyd is into kickboxing-- in her stilettos-- and when she explained why she trains in that footwear, it made perfect sense. She's got a Balenciaga bag containing so many goodies that she could outfit a platoon, and that bagful of stuff isn't mere feminine vanity. This woman is a worthy successor to MacGyver. Lord, have mercy! And believe it or not, she is one amazing travel agent. Too bad she's fictional: depending on the age requirements, I'd love to have her handle all my travel plans.Lost Luggage has so many things that made me laugh out loud, and it's the sort of book that I'd love to share all those things with you, but I will exercise restraint and let you discover them for yourselves. (I will admit that Barry the chameleon was my second favorite character, though.) Besides the amazing female lead and the marvelous humor, there's actually a good mystery to solve, too. If you've been pining for a mystery that makes you laugh, Lost Luggage is the one for you. As for me, it's going to be a long wait for the next book in the series!