Mary McHugh

Pat Wheeler is one of the Happy Hoofers, a dance group of 5 50ish ladies from New Jersey performing at a hotel in Rio. Shortly after arriving their translator, Maria is murdered and soon more bodies are piling up. The killer seemed obvious to me, but it took a while for anyone to think the obvious. Pat puts herself in a couple of dangerous situations and our villain goes overboard in trying to get rid of her but can't seem to do it with quite as much dispatch as the 3 previous ones, hmm? Not sure I'll read any more of these.
I did get a good bit of information though on the Portuguese language and food and some of the major attractions around Rio. The botanical gardens sound fabulous, along with the Christ the Redeemer statue at the summit of Mount Cocorvado and Sugarloaf Mountain on an island in the harbor. The book included recipes for some of the dishes that were served.… (more)

This book started out on a humorous note, but then it just seemed to tell things that the author did to try to keep herself young and active. It fell flat for me at that point. I’m not going to tap dance and cruise my way through my senior years (although I have friends who do just that). I felt a lot of what she said was actually advice from others as she quoted many different individuals throughout her short chapters. A few things she said I could identify with although other things I could not because they were merely her own personal choices.… (more)

I love that the author has her finger in so many pies! The mystery was fine, but I loved that a group of women banded together and danced as a way to get free travel. I miss being a part of a women's group. They supported each other and enjoyed being together. The characters are all interesting and very different from each other.

I also give extra points for free education. My ankle is not good now but I would have loved to try out the Flamenco timed step that Gini, the main character this time taught. I really enjoyed the exuberance that the women had for dancing, it brought me back to my days of doing JoBe, African dance!

The author gives photography tips that are outstanding and the recipes sound good. Also, I learned that there is a camera that can be attached to the eyeglasses that will talk to you, for example, point the camera and it will tell you when the light is green, and it read menus to you! I have been in many restaurants where the menus had print too small for me to read so I would love that myself.… (more)