A Field Guide to Death and Deceit
by  Michelle L. Cullen

I read Michelle L. Cullen’s A Field Guide to Death and Deceit for the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour and loved it. The main character of this series is an anthropologist who has just returned home from an extended tour when an old flame becomes mixed up in a murder case. You can learn all about this book and read my review. The author, like her character Harry, is also very well traveled and has provided us with a guest post: What Travel Guidebooks Don’t Tell You.

The author has a King Sumo GIVEAWAY for this tour. The prize packages include a signed Advance Review Copy of the book, a small pair of binoculars, a Field Notes notebook, and a few bags of tea ( so that winners can be more like Harry.) So after you read her article and learn all about the book, make sure you enter the Giveaway at the end of the post.

AUTHOR GUEST POST:
By Michelle L. Cullen

What Travel Guidebooks Don’t Tell You

What Travel Guidebooks Don’t Tell You

As a kid, I was riveted by the PBS TV show Big Blue Marble, which featured the lives of children all over the world for thirty minutes each Saturday morning. Every episode I was fascinated by how different life could be based purely on where you were born — and yet how many commonalities ran underneath it all.

That tension between difference and sameness became a kind of obsession. It caused me to study anthropology and travel the world. I’ve been to sixty countries (so far) and had countless adventures, like the time a witch putting a scorpion in my bed, or when a giant vulture crashed an al fresco dinner, or when I got lost in the desert with my research team with nothing to follow but rolling tumbleweeds and a guy on a bicycle with a live goat strapped to the back. I’ve worked as a bilingual secretary in Paris, backpacked through Europe, Central America, and Southern Africa, and helped rebuild communities after war across Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific.

Through these experiences, I’ve learned a few things about travel. Things you may want to consider as you plan your next trip.

Know your travel mode

I classify travel into two modes: travel to see and travel to savor.

The traveler focused on seeing optimizes their schedule from day one. They have the top ten restaurants bookmarked, they know which side of the train to sit on for the best views, and they’ve selected every site to see before arrival. It’s efficient when you’re on a tight timetable. But it often results in glossing over places, scratching the surface without seeing what’s beneath it.

Then there’s travel to savor, which is my preferred mode. I’ll book getting somewhere and where to stay but nothing else, letting the rest of my trip unfold based on weather and mood. I’ll randomly walk down charming streets or take a bus with no destination in mind. I’ll choose restaurants by the number of locals eating there. I’ll wander into shops well off the tourist path. Slow travel like this creates a sense of immersion, even if a temporary one.

People-watch with gusto

Everyone does this, but most do it guiltily, looking away the moment their caught. I’m an anthropologist by training, which means I people watch a lot. And I do it even more when I travel because people are the place, more than any landmark or skyline.

Find a bench or a café window and watch the old man who argues with the flower vendor about the price of carnations. Spy on the teenagers navigating some minor drama by the fountain. Study the woman in the yellow coat who walks with such purpose you find yourself wondering where she’s going and what she’s going to do. These textures of daily life — how people move, argue, laugh, wait,— tells you something about a place that no guidebook can.

Talk to strangers; listen with curiosity

Skip the mundane questions (like “where are you from?”) and seek actual conversation instead. Ask the man behind the bakery counter what he’d eat if he could only have one thing from his own shop. Ask the woman on the bus what the town was like twenty years ago. Ask a fellow traveler about their favorite part of their trip.

Then pay attention to what they have to say. Don’t focus on coming up with a follow-up question. Just listen like the answer matters to you, because if you’re doing this right, it does. You’ll be surprised again and again by what people offer when they sense you genuinely want to hear it.

Pack half of what you think you need

People who travel a lot eventually learn they can get by with far less than they imagined: that third pair of shoes, the backup outfit for an occasion that will never arise, the trendy coat that’s fashionable but not practical given where you’re going.

Leave them behind. You’ll gain mobility and ease and peace of mind knowing it’ll be easier to get around. Besides, you can always buy something you need if you didn’t bring it with you.

When something delights you, lean into it

I see itineraries as menus that feature options of what your destination has to offer. Yet, there’s always the ability to customize. When something unexpected captures your attention — like a market not in the guidebook, an interesting alley, an intriguing conversation — follow it.

These detours are often most interesting part of a trip. In my experience, the best moments I’ve had were the unexpected ones, the ones I didn’t plan for. The ones I left space for them to arise.

Take pictures, but also write it down

Photos are great ways to prompt memories of places, but they can’t capture the smell of a market at dawn, the hum of a city at rush hour, or the magic evoked by the sun dropping behind a glorious, snow-capped mountain.

Write down these memorable moments. It doesn’t have to be eloquent, just enough to help you recall the vivid emotions you felt at a certain spot or a certain time. A few lines in the Notes app or in a cheap notebook. The photos will remind you what things looked like. The words will remind you what things felt like.

In the end, the best travel advice I can give is to pay attention. What you bring back isn’t really about the places you’ve visited, it’s about what happens when you slow down enough to experience them.

About A Field Guide to Death and Deceit

Widower and anthropologist Harry Lancaster and his Gen Z colleague Emma are back for more murder and mayhem when they stumble upon a dead farmer.

This delightful sequel to A Field Guide to Murder is perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

When an odd request leads Harry Lancaster to agree to meet his former sweetheart Willow at a farm on the outskirts of town, Emma’s suspicions run high, and she insists on joining him. Instead of Willow greeting them when they arrive, they discover the farm's owner dead, with a corn rake embedded in his back.

After being interrogated by the police, Harry and Emma return to his home to find a bereft Willow, who admits she lost her life savings in a real estate scam involving the farm. Worried Willow will become the main murder suspect, Harry decides to help her, despite Emma’s concerns.

To bring the swindlers—and murderer—to justice, Harry recruits his potentially shady, financial-whiz brother and a neighborhood teenage hacker. Then Willow’s realtor is declared missing, and Harry’s brother is caught up in the fray.

As Harry, Emma, and team unearth clues, they increasingly dodge the police, stalkers, and danger in their race to save Willow and Harry’s brother before anyone else turns up dead.

A Field Guide to Death and Deceit: A Harry & Emma Mystery – A Novel
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Ohio
Hardcover ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8892426787
Paperback ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8892426794
Digital ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8892426800 ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0G75WTNB9

Storybook Lady
Review

A Field Guide to Death and Deceit
by Michelle L. Cullen

A Field Guide to Death and Deceit is a delightful example of a senior sleuth mystery. Harry and Emma are a detective duo that serve up witty banter along with the clues. The main characters are well rounded and the interplay adds interest to the story. As a senior citizen, I enjoyed following an older protagonist and the warm relationship between Harry and Emma which evolved from mentor/ assistant to father figure/ second daughter. But the most fun was the relationship between Harry and his brother. Harry and Edgar circle each other, neither trusting the other completely, and they need to do just that to solve the case. The book begins as a cozy mystery, but eventually the team realize that they need to co the con men. This mash up of Only Murders in the Building and It Takes a Thief was thoroughly entertaining.

Want to read more of my reviews?

Interested in my reviews? I also have a Goodreads shelf dedicated to Cozy Mysteries. Want to read my reviews for books in other genres? I’ve got you covered. There are almost two thousand reviews on Goodreads. Just check out Julie Ditton on Goodreads.

• Goodreads

About Michelle L. Cullen

About Michelle L. Cullen

Michelle L. Cullen has lived and traveled all over the world, from working as a bilingual secretary in Paris to backpacking around Europe, Central America, and Southern Africa to helping rebuild communities after war throughout Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific — where she saw the best and worst of human behavior. Her lifelong fascination with people and why they do what they do, was further fueled by her academic training. She obtained her PhD from the London School of Economics' Sociology Department and her master’s degree in anthropology from Melbourne University in Australia.

A fan of adventure, she has a black belt in Taekwondo, has summited 900 feet rock climbing, snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef, and hiked up an active volcano. She currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where she’s either doing yoga, playing outside, or plotting murder. She’s a proud member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and The Authors Guide, and has been gleefully reading and watching murder mysteries since the age of ten.

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Purchase Links: Amazon – PenguinRandomHouse – Barnes & Noble  – Books A Million – Bookshop.org – Hudson Booksellers – Target – Walmart –

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

July 13 – Storybook Lady – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST

July 14 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT

July 15 – Romance Novel Giveaways – AUTHOR GUEST POST

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July 17 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

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July 21 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

July 22 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR GUEST POST

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July 24 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER GUEST POST

July 25 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

July 26 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

July 27 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – SPOTLIGHT

A Field Guide to Death and Deceit
Giveaway

King Sumo tour wide GIVEAWAY Grand Prize – The prize packages include a signed Advance Review Copy of the book, a small pair of binoculars, a Field Notes notebook, and a few bags of tea ( so that winners can be more like Harry.)

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