I’m delighted to host author and friend JO MELE today, and to celebrate her latest book!

What’s better than a cozy travel mystery? Two Travel Mysteries.

Writers know that their protagonists can lead them anywhere. Jo Mele’s tour director, June Gordon, seems to stumble into trouble on every trip.

In Death on the Danube, a relaxing cruise with her best friend Irene, June takes us to many tourist sites from Vienna to Serbia, and introduces us to the local culture, customs, and food.

At Hungary’s Iron Lock, they hear a scream, then a splash. Someone has gone overboard. A suicide note is found from a professor on the cruise. After speaking to a friend of the dead professor, June is convinced it was murder.

Don’t read this book if you’re hungry or love dessert, especially jelly doughnuts.

As a reward for helping to solve the professor’s murder, June is offered a free cruise for two, on the Rhine. The castle cruise has been on her travel bucket list for five years. Now she and her husband get to go for free.

Irene tells her that since she was already involved in solving a crime on her first cruise the next one should be peaceful.

The title of this second book, Corpse in the Castle, erases any chance of this being a relaxing cruise. June and Joe soon get involved in the murder of a CIA agent working on recovering stolen art. They learn that the Nazis hid over a quarter of a million pieces of art, before and during the war. Stolen pieces are still being smuggled across borders, and sold to private collectors.

June and Joe are asked by the police to follow a pair of suspected smugglers, fellow passengers.

Joe realizes how easy it is to get involved in finding justice for a victim, and apologizes to June for thinking she simply volunteers for danger.

Still, he is a little worried about her next trip, to Sicily. Delicious desserts, an active volcano, and the mafia. What could possibly go wrong?

Josephine (Jo) Mele is a world traveler, tour guide, and life-long mystery reader. Four books in her Travel Mystery Series, and The Odd Grandmothers, a memoir of three generations of her family have been published. She thought it was time for a cruise, or two, with more crimes to solve. Jo is a member of Sisters in Crime.

Jo Mele’s books are available at Reasonable Books in Lafayette or on amazon.