Rally 'Round The Corpse by Hy Conrad

Amy has started a new travel agency, and has had a wonderful idea.  Instead of the traditional European tour, she has contracted with a mystery writer to offer a tour based around solving a mystery.  Not sure if it would be popular, she was pleased to see the tour sell out. 

As the tour progresses, Amy starts to see issues.  Shepherding twenty-four strangers from place to place is more difficult than she thought, with conflicting personalities and lots of demands.  Amy gets a call from her mother back home who shares the news that the writer of the mystery has been murdered; not a auspicious start.  It also becomes apparent as the days go by that instead of creating a new mystery the writer appropriated the details of an unsolved murder he had heard about.  Even worse, there are members on the mystery tour who were involved in that unsolved murder.

Still, the tour ends in Rome on time, and the winners are chosen.  Everyone seems to have had a grand time until one of the participants is killed at the celebration dinner.  Who could have done this and what was their motive?  Was it dislike generated during the tour or did it hark back to the original murder?  Can Amy and the mystery tour participants solve the murder before the Italian police can?

Hy Conrad was the writer and producer of Monk, the TV show built around the quirks of an intelligent detective unsuited for everyday life by his obsessions.  Fans of the show will love the book as it has much of the same charm.  Those unfamiliar will also enjoy the book as it is offbeat enough to be interesting but the pacing and plot are professionally done.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.