Veteran mystery writer Baxter (Monkey See, Monkey Die
) kicks off her new series with a respectable but uninteresting start. Recent widow Mallory Marlowe embarks on a second career as a travel writer. Her first assignment is to go to Orlando and see what she can find of “old Florida.” When one of the other writers on her press junket is killed, she becomes the prime suspect. Determined to clear her name, Mallory takes the investigation into her own hands and soon discovers that everyone on the trip had a reason to hate the dead man. As she visits various attractions, her investigations draw her closer to the identity of the killer. Baxter clearly did a lot of research on Florida, but Marlowe is a familiar, unexciting archetype, and the lack of red herrings will leave readers wishing for less tourism and more mystery. (Nov.)
