A fun cosy mystery filled with adventure and some unique group of seniors.

Emily Miceli leads her band of Iowa seniors into the wilds of Alaska. While they're busy taking in the beauty of the landscape around them, one group member disappears and is later found dead. Who did it? Was it the legendary and illusive Big Foot? Or someone else?

I really enjoyed the descriptions of Alaska, it pulled me into the story right from the start. The constant bickering between the seniors adds that humour element to the story, making it fun and hilarious. Emily proves to be a solid and admirable character through the murders.

The story is fast-paced with some interesting twists and it's a joy to read. It's very well written and it's engaging.

A good book. Well written with great characters and a good plot. The storyline flows and the mystery is enjoyable. I highly recommend.,

This was a fun, cute cozy mystery! I love the theme throughout, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.

What could be more fun that a group of social media savvy geriatrics touring the wilds of Alaska? Add a little mythical beast sighting and a murder or two and you've got cool cozy! Tour escort Emily Andrew-Miceli and her business partner/husband and former detective have their hands full wrangling this rambunctious group. So many twists and turns that I definitely did not figure it out until author Maddy Hunter was ready for the big reveal.

It's always great to see where Maddy Hunter's imagination will take Emily and her cast of characters to next! The Passport to Peril series is always entertaining and a good, fun read. Always. As the mystery takes off in this story, we throw in a visit from bigfoot and add in another level of fun. As always, the story takes our familiar heroine through her paces trying to keep up with her senior travelers while she works with the local police to solve the latest murder. If you want a series that will keep you watching for the next installment, you've found it!

3.5/5*

I was disappointed to find that this book did not, in fact, have anything to do with the Yukon, other than several mentions of the Territory within it. It's a useful word to make a punny title, however, but a bit misleading as the whole book takes place in Alaska (which, although right next door and breathtakingly beautiful, isn't the Yukon). I wanted to read it because of the years I spent in the Yukon Territory.

Emily and her husband Etienne have escorted the usual crew of Iowans on a 12-day tour of Alaska. They bicker and barrel their way through this installment as well, up mountains, across glaciers and through the wilderness. There are two murders in this book - the first during one of their first stops, and the second a few days later - and a lot of characters to wade through, which gets a little overwhelming at times, particularly as the seniors have a tendency to head off on tangents when they're discussing things.

But I did like this more than the first one I read (book #10), probably because I was a somewhat familiar with the characters already. The two murders weren't connected, so it was trickier to figure out who the murderers were.

Overall, it was a good read and the seniors add a lighthearted element to the story - Emily and Etienne have their hands full with their group, not least because Emily's parents and grandmother are on the trip as well.

There are some series that go on too long and others you never want to end, and the Passport to Peril series is firmly in the latter category for me. I can always depend on Maddy Hunter’s books to make me giggle and keep me guessing, and Catch Me if Yukon was no different.

I’m always happy to reunite with Emily and the gang; after twelve books, it really does feel like a reunion of friends. These wonderfully quirky characters never cease to make me laugh and shake my head at their antics. These books are just so much fun, especially for people who like to travel vicariously. As someone who loves to travel, but doesn't get to as much as she'd like, I love following along on the Iowans' (mis)adventures. Hunter has a real knack for 'showing' the places her characters visit, and I always learn something new and interesting, plus her descriptions make me feel like I'm right there.

Highly entertaining, and with a mystery that will keep you guessing, Catch Me if Yukon is a delightful read.

Emily and her tour group of travelling seniors are touring Alaska and, as always, they're in a heated competition to see who can post the most viral photo online. The twist is that this time one of them snaps an accidental picture of what appears to be Bigfoot and it does draw media attention, much to the dismay of the other group members. Not that Emily has a lot of time to deal with that -- as usual with one of her tours, there's been a fatality and the local authorities are involved.



This may be my favorite so far in the Passport to Peril series. The mystery is complex and intriguing. Emily's husband, Etienne, is travelling with her and the chemistry between the two of them is always wonderful. Jackie is back in Iowa, leading her own tour group and if you've read other books in the series you can probably imagine how that's going.

I love this series, Passport to Peril. This is book 12 and Emily and her adventurous group of senior travelers are off to Alaska. You get to meet them as they are whale watching and then moving by bus to zipline in Denali. They are certainly a spry and fun group and don't seem to mind that everytime Emily and her husband take a group on tour someone dies. With reports hounding them about a picture of Bigfoot and a dead hiker from their group this trip isn't going smoothly. Lots of great travel info that has you yearning to pack your suitcase and join them. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Catch Me If Yukon
By Maddy Hunter

This is book #12 in the Passport to Peril Series
Take a trip with tour director Emily Miceli and her quirky regulars (a senior group), then add the book club "Norwegian Only" members. Joining them are her husband Etienne, an ex swiss police inspector, and her bizarre mother Margaret, her soft-spoken father Bob, and her fun loving nana. What could go wrong ?
Explore and enjoy a trip with the seniors to the beautiful frontier of Alaska. While whale watching Golde gets seasick and fellow passenger Margi gives her a mini bottle of hand sanitizer, a summer scent that was created to celebrate Iowa's farm economy, "Pork Sorbet". Emily's mom is having so much fun she states it's as much fun as coding your dad's sock drawer, and considering they're all black socks I'd say she's having the time of her life. Powder sloshed off the glacial wall in a snowy waterfall, making a loud crack which made Emily's mom burst out "iceberg dead ahead run for your lives!" which caused pure panic among the passengers.
All the seniors have gone cell phone crazy snapping photos. The media catches wind of one of the photos posted by Emily's dad Bob, of Bigfoot, or is it a tree hmmm. He loves taking pictures of everything and anything i.e. lampposts, trash cans, and a crack in the sidewalk. The Bigfoot photo goes viral. Florence is a sweet caring woman married to Thor, a man that is utterly devoid of self awareness...he has to be the first at everything which might be his demise. This book is a entertaining mystery that will keep you laughing and have you on the edge of your seat at the same time. It will keep you engaged throughout and turning pages as fast as you can. I love the bit about the couple hiking in the Montana backcountry and the husband is dragged away by a grizzly bear, never to be seen again. What a picture this puts in your mind. Oh, and don't forget there is a bus driver that Emily almost set up with a friend that turns out to be a serial killer. This is the first book I have read by this author and I have thoroughly enjoyed her writing, quick wit, and her humor. You can read this book as a stand alone, but I think after reading one you will be drawn to go back and read the whole series.
Thanks to Netgalley for their advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I will be picking up the first 11 books by Maddy Hunter, the "Passport to Peril" series. Her writing is unique given that she seamlessly blends comedy with a great mystery. If you enjoy a good laugh while reading a mystery you will be turning the pages as fast as you can to solve a mystery this book is great entertainment.
I'd give it 5+ stars
ladyedan
ladyedan62
#netgalley
#amazon
#goodreads

Catch Me If Yukon: A Passport to Peril Mystery
By Maddy Hunter
Midnight Ink
December 2018

Review by Cynthia Chow

The Windsor City, Iowans are off to Alaska for another senior-specializing adventure led by Emily and her husband Etienne Miceli. Their usual assortment of geriatric regulars is being joined by a “Norwegian Only” bookclub that restricts not by their reading selections but by the members’ provable Norwegian lineage. Their bookclub with forty years of membership includes the aggressively domineering Thor Thorsen and his submissive wife, who apologetically hauls around his cameras while the rest of the Iowans fully embrace their cell phones and selfies. Emily already has her hands full wrangling her own unique family, with her father for once uttering more than one word sentences and her martyr of a mother intent on protecting their rebellious Nana. Emily’s father may have chosen a somewhat inconvenient time to come onto his own though, as being the only member of the troop to choose scenery over selfies he inadvertently photograph a figure all of social media immediately declares to be Bigfoot.

When one of their adventurists goes missing and is found frozen on the mountain, Sasquatch enthusiasts are quick to blame the admittedly cuddly-looking creature for the death. While Emily attempts to reign in both her phone-addicted sleuths and her alarmist mother, back home in Iowa an exploratory expedition of Destinations Travel is having catastrophic events. Emily’s ex-husband Jackie is leading her (as a new woman she out-glamorizes Emily) first solo tour, and the testing of the new Green Acres theme park has them spending more time in the hospital than on the actual fake farms. What with Alaska’s reputation of being inundated with serial killers and additional accidents dwindling down their numbers, Emily definitely will be challenged if she hopes to prevent her Nana from pepper-spraying killers (or an overprotective daughter), get the seniors to look up from their phones, and of course track down a killer.

This series should always be at the top of every mystery reader’s favorite books of the year, as they have readers bursting out with laughter at the delightful antics of the Windsor City adventurists. The seniors are more addicted to social media and receiving “likes” than any millennial, but they compete to be three hours early for the bus, demand orderly lines for the early bird specials, and vote before every decision. Emily’s Nana is an admirable model for strength and confidence, defying stereotypes without being unrealistic or over-the-top. While Emily and Etienne attempt to be the sole bastions of sanity and practicality amidst the ensuring chaos and inordinate number of murders, their futile efforts provide so much humor and commentary on society that readers will hope that the high mortality rate among the Iowa tourists only continues.

This is the first book I have read in this series. The plot of the story was good; I enjoyed the idea of a travel agent taking a group on a tour of Alaska. But I feel that the execution was not as enjoyable.

The first chapters of the books seemed to bog down as the various tour guides gave information about Alaska that really had nothing to do with the story. It's big. Bigger than Texas. Lots of facts and figures. Snooze, can we get on with the story, please? I wondered if the author needed more words in the manuscript before the publisher would touch it.

Emily's tour group is a bunch of old people. (I was reminded of Tilly and the Crazy Eights, but the people were much nicer). Most are her normal tour group, but some members of a book club have joined them. There is one couple that makes everyone else feel uneasy as they watch the husband and his unkind dealings with his wife. There is a man there whose wife couldn't come at the last minute because her mother took ill. And a woman whose husband is working on a big land deal so stays home. When one of the women dies after a sighting of Bigfoot, the media is alerted and everyone blames the death on Bigfood.

I confess that there were times I skimmed rather than read every word. I don't think I missed anything important to the storyline at all.

I kept reading because I really did wonder about this woman's death. It quickly became clear that it wasn't an accident, so who would want to murder her? There is one obvious person who might want her dead, but everyone in the group appears to have an iron-tight alibi for the time of death. I dare not tell anything more as it would spoil the story. Let's just leave it with this. There are twists you could never imagine. And as wild as they are, the author somehow sets them up so that they make perfect sense.

A subplot centering on an employee back at home also seemed to only be there to add pages to the book and perhaps appeal to the LGBT reader. I could see no other possible reasons for the inclusion. Needless to say, I skimmed a lot of that part, too.

The explanation at the end of the "who did it" and "why" is quite good, and that alone makes it worth reading.

I was lucky enough to discover this delightful series when the first book was published and I have enjoyed every single one of the trips with Emily, Nana and the gang. This, the 12th trip with them was a hoot. The Dicks were in fine form, Bernice was her usual annoying self and Jack even made a long distance by phone from Iowa.
It's a given that there will be at least one homicide on every trip that Emily takes. She is ready to investigate at a moments notice and she does it so well...practice makes perfect, as the saying goes. Having her Nana as her pint sized sidekick helps, too. On the plus side, Emily has found true love on her travels with the hunky ex-police man, Etienne who marries her and helps run the travel agency. Now, in Alaska, the gang deals with homicide and Big Foot along with gorgeous scenery. While trying to enjoy the spectacular view from a mountain top, the fog rolls in and a murder follows. Accident? Homicide? Leave it to Emily to hold a clue to everything at the end. It's a doozy.
If this is your introduction to this series, have no fear, it can be read as a stand alone but, please, do yourself a favor and hasten to get the entire series and read them in order. For myself, this is one of the rare series that I happily reread. Long live Emily, Nana, Etienne and The Gang.. Thanks so very much for the laughter.
My thanks to Maddy Hunter for crafting such a wonderful series, to her publisher, Midnight Ink and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Catch Me if Yukon was a high quality cozy mystery. The characters, locale, and storyline were excellent. This was the 12th book in the Passport to Peril series. The story can easily be read as a stand alone novel. I felt fully invested in the story and characters without having read any of the previous books.
Emily and her husband, Etienne, run a travel company specializing in tours for active seniors. In this installment, the group is exploring Alaska. The regular group who travels with Emily is joined by a book club, Emily's grandmother, and Emily's parents.
I loved the interactions between the members of the tour group, their interactions with Emily and Etienne, and the family dynamic between Emily's grandmother and parents.
The pacing of the story was excellent. The mystery kept me on my toes - I was completely surprised when the mystery was solved.
I am inspired to read the whole series.

Senior moments, travel mishaps and murder meet in Catch Me if Yukon.

Husband and wife team Etienne and Emily run Destinations Travel, a senior tour group out of Iowa. This trip is a twelve-day Alaskan bus tour. Along with their twelve regulars are seven new travelers from the same Iowan bookclub. It doesn’t take long before Bigfoot is spotted and one of the group is murdered, possibly by Bigfoot.

The feisty old ladies make for a humorous ride. It is nice to get a free travelogue along with your cozy mystery. My only complaint was that the conclusion was wrapped up a little too quickly for me. Catch Me if Yukon is an enjoyable cozy mixing senior humor and travel. 3 stars.

Thanks to Midnight Ink Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is number 12 in the Passport to Peril Mystery. I have not read any of these and did not feel that I was missing out. This is a standalone story with some unique characters. I found the cover and description inviting me to take a chance on this book. I’m glad I did.

Emily Andrew-Miceli and her husband Etienne own a tour company that caters to a lively group of Iowa seniors. They are constantly trying to grow their business. This story is centered around an Alaskan tour with whale watching, hiking and scenic town tours. A local Iowan book club joins this tour. At one stop, I believe in Seward, the group takes a tram to the top of the mountain and one of them doesn’t return. Delpha Spillum, a retired newspaper owner had an argument with a know-it-all, Thor Iverson, on the tram ride up.

Emily has an ex-husband that is now a female tour guide wannabe. This rings in some humor but at the expense of others. Jackie has her hands full on her tour in a nearby town in Iowa.

This story is infused with humor, satire and ironic comedy. The story spent a lot of time making us think that seniors are so enamored with technology that they shut others out. I have not found that to be true in my many travels. Many older people use technology to research, entertain themselves and communicate via text to younger members of their families.

There were a lot of characters and I often found myself flipping back and forth to try to keep them straight. It was a lot of work.

There is much more going on in this story. I found it entertaining even though there weren’t a lot of clues for the murder(s). You’ll need to read it yourself.

I volunteered to read and review an ARC of this book provided by Midnight Ink and NetGalley. These are my unsolicited opinions.

A fun trip to Alaska. Several surprises, some of which are fatal. Entertaining senior antics, along with their annoying behavior at times. Interesting Alaskan tour details.

I am always up for a trip with Emily and her seniors!!! I am so balky I found these books a number of years ago and even happier this author keeps writing them. Maddy Hunter has definitely become one of my go to and highly recommended authors. The way she draws her readers into the stories, you just can’t put them down. Every mystery is different too so readers don’t get bored.
If I may make a suggestion to readers, this audiobook series is so well done too.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

“Catch Me If Yukon” is the twelfth installment of Maddy Hunter’s funny series. I had been aware of Hunter’s “Passport to Peril” series, but had never read one before, which was a mistake. This book was laugh out loud funny in places, while still being an engaging mystery.

The book takes place in Alaska, where a hardy band of Iowa seniors is on a trip run by Emily and her Swiss husband Etienne. The author must have taken a trip there herself, or else her research is first-rate because I really felt as if I were there myself. All of the characters were individuals, and the reader gets to feeling that she knows them. The descriptions of the scenery and venues made me feel like booking a trip to Alaska.

I don’t like spoilers so I am not going to give any. Suffice it to say that there is a murder, and I didn’t see the ending coming, which I like. I really enjoyed “Catch Me If Yukon,” and I will make a point of reading the earlier books in the series. This is not exactly a cozy mystery, but it is also the furthest thing from noir. It was very enjoyable and I recommend that you give it a try.

A great travel mystery from Maddy Hunter, who always incorporates lots of humor and travel facts into her mysteries. Enjoyable!