HUNTER, Maddy

PERSONAL: Married.

ADDRESSES: Home—Madison, WI. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

CAREER: Author.

WRITINGS:

"PASSPORT TO PERIL" MYSTERY SERIES

Alpine for You, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Top o' the Mournin', Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Pasta Imperfect, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Maddy Hunter writes humorous mystery novels about amateur tour guide Emily Andrew, whose repeated efforts to lead groups of senior citizens on successful vacations of various parts of Europe always end in disaster and murder. Emily first appears in Alpine for You, where, finding herself without a job, she decides to accompany her grandmother on a trip to Switzerland. The vacation is a bomb from the start, with Emily having an unpleasant time with the senior citizens in the group tour. Things go from bad to worse when their guide is murdered. Emily suddenly finds herself with a new job as substitute tour guide, and finds a new love interest in attractive inspector Etienne Miceli in a debut mystery that Murder Express reviewer Lelia Taylor called "delightfully fresh, with a great deal of humor."

In Top o' the Mournin' Emily returns, this time with another group of seniors traveling through Ireland. Murder is in the cards again, when two staff members at a castle are killed. Fortunately for Emily, Etienne is on the case, too, though a wrench is thrown into the works by Emily's ex-husband, Jack. RomanticTimes.com reviewer Samantha J. Gust found Hunter's story "funny and full of suspense."

Never a good advertisement for the joys of travel, Hunter's series continues to fin humor in all the things that can go wrong on a vacation, including lost luggage and cantankerous traveling companions Italy is the destination for Emily's third adventure, Pasta Imperfect. Emily, who has now found a job working at a bank, is also in charge of the Windsor City Bank Senior Travel Club. The seniors hook up with a romance publisher's tour, and when one of the aspiring authors on the trip is killed, it is handsome Etienne who is once more on the case.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

AllReaders.com, http://www.allreaders.com/ (February 8, 2005), Harriet Klausner, review of Pasta Imperfect.

Murder Express, http://www.murderexpress.net/ (November, 2002), Lelia Taylor, review of Alpine for You.

Mystery Reader, http://www.themysteryreader.com/ (February 8, 2005), Jennifer Monahan Winberry, review of Pasta Imperfect.

RomanticTimes.com, http://www.romantictimes.com/ (February 8, 2005), Samantha J. Gust, review of Alpine for You.