Alex Croft

The Last Lavender Train Alex Croft

Rachael and Peter Maxon, a happily married, successful mystery-writing team living in New England, also operate a series of luxurious mystery trains in California each summer. For both their novels and the train mysteries, he invents the plots and she does the writing. Rachael also owns a book store with partners Jennifer and Erica. While gathering information for the Lavender Trains - this year's series that Rachael is developing solo so Peter will have to solve the mysteries along with the guests - she is killed when her rented car crashes and burns. Despite their mutual dislike, Peter enlists Erica's help when he discovers the suicide case Rachael was adapting for the trains may actually have been a murder and to avoid exposure, she feared the murderer might kill her. Clues recovered from deleted computer files suggest the killer is a guest on the final train, so Peter and Erica attend the trains to unmask that killer. As their search leads them closer and closer to the unlikeliest suspect, they forget that, when you hunt a killer, the killer also hunts you.