Maddy Hunter •
G’Day to Die •

Maddy Hunter calls her mystery series Passport to Peril, but she could as well have named it Highway to Hilarity. Witness a group of senior citizens from Iowa snapping photos of Australia’s Twelve Apostles rock formation—and arguing over which rock represents which apostle. “The puny one in the next shot is Judas. You can tell ’cause it looks more sneaky than them others,” announces an 80-something traveler. Her male counterpart demands, “Which one’s Dopey?”

He’s gotten the seven dwarfs mixed up with the twelve apostles.

Tour escort Emily Andrew has her hands full shepherding this gang of feisty Midwestern miscreants through the Land of Oz. They get chased by belligerent sea lions and peed on by nervous koalas. They discuss the relative tastiness of roadkill with Tasmanian devils. They quaff bar drinks known as Screaming Orgasms. And they regularly vote on which tour member should be killed.

That joke falls flat when one of them really is found dead, having strayed from the marked path along a cliff’s edge. “What do you s’pose she was lookin’ for?” muses Emily’s Nana. “A husband,” replies her granddaughter.

The Australian accent also comes in for its share of ribbing. Does “pist control” refer to “some kind of anger management”? Actually, the “pists” in question are the myriad deadly insects and poisonous snakes that populate the Outback. Soon after this announcement, bunioned feet are sporting S&M-style black leather boots for protection.

A dozen books in the series transport you to Italy and Ireland, Holland and Hawaii, Scotland and Scandinavia, among other locales. You get all the fun of armchair travel, but without the annoying companions—except on the page, where their antics will make you howl with glee rather than with frustration.