Review: Missing in Mexico – Stuart Gustafson
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Synopsis:
Missing in Mexico is a mystery novel set in Los Cabos, Mexico. Sarah is a 19-year old who wasn’t on the return plane trip from a family vacation. Her parents hire Stan, a Private Investigator, to find her. Even with local help and some promising leads, Stan returns to Seattle to tell her parents that he can’t find her. Months later he receives a letter from someone who says she can help him find Sarah, and he jumps on the next plane to Los Cabos. Will this be the break that he needs to find her, or will she remain missing — Missing in Mexico?
Characters:
Stan Walkorski – Private Investigator.
Review:
This was a very intriguing mystery in the cozy style of mysteries. The majority of the story takes place in Cabo San Lucas Mexico, and that’s where the strength of the whole story lies. Mr. Gustafson manages to bring Mexico to the reader. Through his detailed descriptions I could see the sites, and sometimes even smell the food he was describing.
The story takes Stan through the streets of Mexico, exposing him to the art and the culture. As it does so, it also exposes the reader to that culture. After finishing it, I felt like I’d been there. I hadn’t really read a “travel mystery” before, but now that I have, I think I’d probably look for more in that specific style.
Another strong feature of Mr. Gustafson’s writing is that he includes a lot of the Spanish language within the text. Each chapter starts with a word, shows how it’s used in a sentence, and it’s usually related to the focus of that chapter. I really enjoyed this added bonus to the book, and I hope he includes the same style when he writes further books such as this.
If there were one drawback, I think it would be due to the fact that this is Mr. Gustafson’s debut novel. Some of the scenes involving Stan talking on the phone were awkward to read. There’d be some scenes where we’d hear both sides of the conversation, and other times where we’d only hear Stan’s. The author lacked consistency in how he approached that. Hearing (or reading) only his half of the conversation seemed to bring me out of the story, and caused me to wonder who was actually on the other end, if anybody.
I would definitely recommend this book though. Outside the one small distraction, which could just be my own quirk, I really like the story. The characters were interesting, and you really wanted to determine what happened to Sarah. If you want to find out, grab a copy of his book. I think you’ll like it.
About the Author
Stuart Gustafson began writing in earnest after taking early retirement from the corporate world in 2007. His professional life involved travel and so it was natural for him to want to continue traveling once he didn’t have to travel as a job. Now when he travels, it’s for fun; it’s for pleasure; it’s to see new places in the world. The way he has chosen to combine his love of travel and writing is to write mystery novels set in exciting locations around the world where he likes to go.
His debut mystery novel Missing in Mexico is set in San Jose del Cabo at the tip of Mexico’s Bajadel Cabo and some of the residents told him that Missing in Mexico was indeed about their town and would he please consider writing another book about San Jose or at least about Cabo.
His second mystery novel, set in Sydney, NSW, Australia, is already underway, and Stuart took five trips to Sydney in 2010 to conduct research of the area to once again ensure that the book, even though it’s a fictional mystery novel, would still contain authentic details. Publication date for that book is set for early 2012.
Stuart has been married for thirty-seven years to Darlene and they have one daughter and one son. Stuart and Darlene live in Boise, Idaho.
*Disclaimer* A special thanks goes out to Molly at Partners in Crime Tours for a review copy of this book. It in no way influenced my review. You can discuss it here or join my facebook page and discuss it there.
Mr. Gustafson is currently on tour for Missing in Mexico. See his other tour stops here:
August 8-Giveaway@I’d Rather Be Reading At The Beach
September 21-Interview@Book Marketing Buzz
September 21-Review@GenreWench
September 19th, 2011 at 4:45 am
Thanks for the review, I just got this book and I am looking forward to reading it.
September 26th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
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