Book Details:
Publisher: AITE Publishing
Published: May 2011
Genre: Mystery Tourism
Website: Missing In Mexico

Blurb:
Sarah Johnson is a 19-year college freshman who, along with her roommate Mary, spent an extra week in Los Cabos, Mexico after a family vacation over the Christmas break. Unexpectedly, Sarah’s not on the plane back to Seattle, and her parents hire Stan, a seasoned Private Investigator, to locate her. Even with local help and some promising leads in the town of San Jose del Cabo, he’s unable to find her, and he returns to Seattle to inform the parents. Months later he receives a mysterious letter from someone who says she can help him locate Sarah, and he jumps on the next plane to Los Cabos. Will this be the lucky break he needs to find her? Or will she remain missing — Missing in Mexico?

Excerpt:

My thoughts: As you see from the excerpt above, Missing in Mexico starts off with a bang and was perfect to read at the beach.

Gustafson does an excellent job of showing the reader around San Jose del Cabo. He adds wonderful details about the area, including the shops and restaurants. You’d expect nothing less from “America’s International Travel Expert.” And I’d expect that anybody visiting the area who has read this book will get a little smile as they pass some of the landmarks or eat at some of the restaurants mentioned in the story. I know I was pretty tickled at the mention of one of the streets, Zaragoza, which was named for one of my distant ancestors!

The story, in my opinion, could have moved a little faster, perhaps been a little tighter. I also would have liked to see more depth to the investigator Stan Walkorski. (Awesome name for a P.I., by the way!)

That said, Gustafson did a great job of keeping the mystery going until the end, as well as tying up all the loose ends.

I’ve never read a book in the “Mystery Tourism” genre, but I hope to see more of them from Gustafson in the future.

Author Info:
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 Baja California peninsula, a charming location where he has spent 2-6 weeks each year for the past eight years. This is how Stuart researches his books, by immersing himself into the culture of the area, and getting to know the people and their charm. The best compliment Stuart has received was at a local event in San Jose del 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.

Connect With Stuart:
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Twitter: Twitter

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