Murder on the Class Trip
Drafted as chaperones, Maya Kendrick and PTA president Sandra Wallage are accompanying the SoPo High seniors to the nation’s capital, much to the embarrassment of Maya’s daughter Vanessa and Sandra’s son Ryan. Now both moms are about to find out which is harder, shepherding unruly high schoolers or solving a murder. The last sight they expected to see on this trip is a female intern who works for Sandra’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Senator Stephen Wallage, in a fatally compromising position.
Desperate to avoid scandal, Stephen begs Maya and Sandra to solve the case. But their FBI counterparts, tough-as-nails agents Markey and Rhodes, are far less enthusiastic about the meddling of two “amateurs.” With suspects ranging from senators to students to stalkers, Maya and Sandra must follow a twisty trail of clues so they can catch a killer and survive to make the return trip.
The Details
Series: A Maya and Sandra Mystery – Book # 3
Author: Lee Hollis
Genre/Category: Cozy – Business/PI
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496736532
Page Count: 336
Rating: 
The Review
I enjoy Lee Hollis’ books, but Murder on the Class Trip just didn’t resonate with me. I found the entire plot hard to believe, and the political aspect was too on-topic for fiction work. The murder of an intern is all too believable, as it has happened several times in the world of Washington. Having a Senator accused of the murder might be too close to reality for many readers.
Maya and Sandra are chaperoning a senior class trip. Almost from the start, the trip is rife with issues starting with the reckless bus driver. But when an intern’s body is found in the home of Sandra’s soon-to-be- ex-husband, a Senator, and a well-known cheater, things turn for the worse. It is up to Maya and Sandra to prove his innocence before he is arrested, and the Washington sharks take a bite out of his career.
There are quite a few suspects in the death of the Senator’s intern. Evidence and red herrings are sprinkled throughout the book, and figuring out the killer’s identity isn’t easy. Roadblocks are thrown up at every turn, and even Maya and Sandra’s children are causing problems. The two sleuths use their professional skills to set up and uncover the killer. Their investigation isn’t well received by the local FBI, and no one wants the Senator to be innocent.
Usually, I find Lee Hollis’ books exciting and easy to lose myself in, but Murder on the Class Trip just didn’t have the feel of a cozy. It read more like a political thriller, and that isn’t what I was expecting. If you take the book as a thriller, it was filled with everything you could ask for, but for a cozy, it just wasn’t, well… cozy. I didn’t like the Senator and did not know who the intern was or what type of person she was; I couldn’t become invested in her murder. I will read the next book in this series, but right now, this is not among my favorite reads or series.
The Author
Lee Hollis is the pen name for a brother and sister writing team. Rick Copp is a veteran film and television writer/producer and also the author of two other mystery novel series. He lives in Palm Springs, California. Holly Simason is an award-winning food and cocktails columnist for the Mount Desert Islander newspaper in Bar Harbor, Maine, where she resides.
Readers may want to start the “A Maya and Sandra Mystery” series with book one, Murder at the PTA or for something different, another series from these authors, such as the “Hayley Powell Mystery” series, Death of an Ice Cream Scooper.
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