Maddy Hunter Books in Order

If you want the series from the beginning: Alpine for You → Top O' the Mournin' → Pasta Imperfect
If you like travel chaos and big laughs: Hula Done It? → G'Day to Die → Norway to Hide
If you want the later Emily and Etienne era: Dutch Me Deadly → Bonnie of Evidence → Fleur de Lies
If you prefer the newest books first: From Bad to Wurst → Say No Moor → Catch Me If Yukon

Maddy Hunter writes the kind of mysteries that turn missed connections, bad weather, and unruly tour groups into comedy. She grew up in Bangor, Maine, in the same house as her grandmother, a detail that matters because her own Nana later became the model for one of her best loved characters.

That grandmother left a mark.

Hunter started out in historical romance during the big paperback era of the 1980s and 1990s. She published The Wind-Rose, The Irish Bride, The White Raven, and Savage Tides, stories filled with sea captains, thieves, lighthouse keepers, and other period drama figures. Then her publisher closed its romance line, and she spent years dealing with writer's block and trying to finish a historical novel that never quite found a home.

The turn came in October 1999, when she joined an organized tour of Iowa seniors in Switzerland. The hotel was plain, the food was disappointing, the weather was awful, and the people were unforgettable. Watching the group joke, play cards, and keep going anyway gave her the spark she needed. Out of that trip came Emily Andrew, Nana, and the whole idea of a travel mystery series built around dead bodies, tour buses, and affectionate chaos.

It was a very good bad trip.

That idea became Alpine for You, the first Passport to Peril novel and her mystery debut. It introduced Emily Andrew, a younger woman from rural Iowa who gets pulled into shepherding seniors through Europe and into murder investigations she never asked for. The book was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Mystery, and it set the pattern for what readers keep coming back for: smart humor, vivid travel settings, and a cast of seniors who are far sharper than anyone expects.

As the series grew through Top O' the Mournin', Pasta Imperfect, G'Day to Die, and later Catch Me If Yukon, Hunter kept moving the action to new destinations. Ireland, Italy, Australia, France, Germany, Cornwall, and Alaska all become part of the fun. Readers who like her books usually mention the mix of cozy mystery plotting and travel comedy, along with the running relationships, especially Emily's bond with Nana and her romance, then marriage, with Etienne Miceli.

Hunter has said Nana was deeply shaped by her own grandmother, who belonged to St. John's Parish in Bangor, visited the sick, helped grieving families, loved poker, and liked a Tom Collins. That family influence gives the novels their warmth. Even when the plots get wild, the people feel lived in, and the jokes usually come from character rather than snark for its own sake.

She later settled in Madison, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband. She loves to travel for research, and she reads a lot of nonfiction, especially history. Her interest in World War II even fed directly into Fleur de Lies, which lets her mix a river cruise mystery with older secrets from wartime France.

In other words, Hunter found her lane by turning vacation disasters into stories. For cozy readers who want humor, motion, and a strong sense of place, that has worked out very well.