Where do you hide an escaped prisoner? On a wheelchair holiday perhaps. Like a spoke in a wheel, the villain is seen but not seen.
Aspiring writer Sandy Blee is stuck in a dead-end receptionist job until she wins a working holiday to Jordan, pushing a wheelchair for Wheelchair Warriors Holidays. Even though she quickly realises she was the only entrant in the Blerglergle writing competition she is extremely excited about leaving England for the first time.
However, after arriving in the pink city of Petra she discovers her fellow travellers are not all they seem, and most are not who they claim to be. Moreover, the whole group is under investigation by the SeeMs Detective Agency who have been sent out to search for an escaped convict.
When members of the group are kidnapped and one mysteriously dies, Sandy finds herself pulled into the SeeMs detectives’ investigation. Is she, who so wants to write bestselling crime stories,
ready to take on a real-life mystery – one that might just turn deadly?
This book will be enjoyed by readers who like travel crime, plus devotees of Agatha Christie, Grease the movie and MM Kaye
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Like many authors, Gina has had a lot of different jobs and careers. She has been a
physiotherapist, a flying instructor and pilot, a dog breeder, and a journalist. This is her sixth book in the SeeMs Detective series: the agency that looks behind what seems to be true.
Gina had two lengths of time when she was in a wheelchair (after a car crash and a helicopter accident) and having experienced the difficulties of wheelchair travel firsthand she wanted to write a book that showed the challenges for wheelchair users when travelling, not just steps and narrow doorways, for example, but unexpected things like the difficulties of traversing cobbles.
When not writing or travelling Gina lives in Sussex with her husband and dogs.
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My thoughts: The SeeMS Detective Agency are sent to Jordan to apprehend a familiar villain, mistress of disguise and Stevie’s former girlfriend Bella Chantry, they also uncover another criminal on the run – Lady Bumstead.
But before that, a member of the travelling party with Wheelchair Warriors Holidays is tragically murdered and Cat and Miranda must help the local police identify the killer after a botched hostage taking.
The trip’s organiser Miss Abbey is at her wits’ end with the group, mostly elderly, mostly impossible to manage – like herding cats. The majesty and beauty of Petra seem lost on them as they bicker and gossip their way through the desert. But who hated Mrs Cox enough to kill her?
I do wonder if the detectives are a little bit hopeless, they get distracted from their task a bit too easily and I figured out who the disguised criminals were in about thirty seconds. But the hostage taking, murder and all the other secrets the tourists are carrying were quite gripping and intriguing.
I have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it can be to travel with a wheelchair and negotiate awkward terrain (Cyprus FYI is a great place to go if you are looking for a holiday that’s pretty good on access – the beach even had a ramp and a sort of chair lift into the sea) so I understood how tricky finding willing “pushers” could be and although most wheelchair users would far rather take their own chair, how difficult it is to load and unload transport while travelling.
Overall I enjoyed the book, and wonder whether the detectives will ever catch Bella or whether they’re destined to chase her around the globe, always one step behind.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 