A Tourist’s Guide to Murder
By V. M. Burns
Adult Fiction
I absolutely enjoy this series, and so far A Tourist’s Guide to Murder has been my favorite. The author takes a unique approach to the cozy mystery genre by giving you two stories for the price of one. The main character of the book is a mystery bookstore owner and a fledgling author. A draft of the main character’s current book is interspersed with the main story and often reflects OR foreshadows the main story.
In this book, I decided the real author — V. M. Burns — is a genius. In the sections of the main character’s rough draft, she tells us dates and details that don’t quite add up. Why is this genius? It perfectly illustrates how an author can think of things that fit the story but get the details wrong until research and editing happen. In this book, the main character was free-writing on a notepad, and she had no way to research, check dates, or edit. So all the continuity errors stand and give us, the readers, something to jump at. (Hey! That’s wrong! Didn’t the author do any research?) But it is still realistic to the situation.
Book Review by Clorinda
