Fleur de Lies: A Passport to Peril Mystery

France’s coastal region of Normandy, site of the D-Day landings, provides the setting for Hunter’s lackluster ninth travel-related mystery (after 2013’s Bonnie of Evidence). Emily Andrew Miceli, co-owner of the Destinations Travel Company, is leading a group of Iowan senior citizens on a Seine barge tour. The quirky passenger list includes Woody and Cal Jolly, father-and-son proprietors, respectively, of Jolly’s Funeral Home, and cosmetics sales rep Jackie, who was formerly Emily’s husband, Jack, before gender reassignment surgery. Hunter has a field day with the alternately snarky and insincere interactions between Jackie and her three fellow sales reps, all top performers enjoying the cruise compliments of their employer, cosmetics giant Mona Michelle. When one of the reps, Krystal, falls—or is pushed—off a cliff, tension among the already incompatible passengers escalates. Evocative descriptions of rugged Normandy scenery and Monet’s gardens at Giverny highlight this otherwise weakly plotted cozy. [em]Agent: Irene Goodman, Irene Goodman Agency. (May) [/em]