Fast Food Kills: A Madge Franklin Mystery

by Kate McLaughlin

and Paul Franklin enjoy being retired. They also enjoy living full-time in their recreational vehicle and having adventures as they travel across America.The couple has been on the road as full-time RVers for over 6 years. Sometimes they travel as simple tourists, but often they work as volunteers with different organizations.Recruited by a semi-official government organization to work in clandestine operations, the Franklins find themselves RVing throughout the Southwest tracking a “mad” scientist suspected of killing people in fast food restaurants.The Franklin’s investigation takes them from White Sands National Monument in New Mexico to Virginia, back to New Mexico, and then to Death Valley National Park, where the murder mystery reaches its climax. Who is killing these fast food diners … if it’s not the calorie-laden food?About the McLaughlin wanted to create a fictional couple who could tell her and her husband’s story. Somehow the book took on a life of its own and Fast Food Kills is the result. “My husband and I are retired and live on a retirement style income. We live full-time in an RV and travel all over the country. When not visiting the kids, we work as volunteers with the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife. We also do service projects and disaster rebuilds with NOMADS, which is a branch of the United Methodist Church.” About her writing, she says, “I had recently turned 70 and thought if Grandma Moses could start that late in life, so could I.”Publisher’s

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 11, 2015

Reviews

[Judy Haggenjos · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Fast Food Kills" is a very entertaining read. As RVers my husband and I have been to some of the places Madge & Paul visited. It made it more fun to picture in my mind where they were in the book. The book flows quickly and Kate McLaughlin has spun a good yarn! Well worth the price of the book, so start ordering fellow readers.

[Julia Lynam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine Pippi Longstocking grown up (a bit) and hitched to Clark Kent and you get an idea of Marge and Paul Franklin. The two perennial adventurers are innocently enjoying retirement with a life on the road in a luxurious Recreational Vehicle. But Marge’s former existence as a political analyst within the beltline catches up with them in the form of the enigmatic Charles Benson, who speaks so pedantically you can almost hear the British accent – or at least the upper-class Bostonian tones. But maybe I’m getting him confused with Charles Winchester in MASH.

Marge and Paul accept Charles’s invitation to serve their country as undercover agents, revealing hidden talents but little suspecting the greasy sort of crime they’ll get sucked into as they track the Fast Food killer.

Author Kate McLaughlin incorporates so much entertaining information about restaurants, tourist attractions, national parks and RV sites in southern Arizona and New Mexico that the reader could use the book as a travel guide and have a great time reconstructing the intrepid duo’s odyssey – preferably without the criminal entanglement.

Food is a recurrent theme throughout the book, with good American meals and snacks lovingly described at every turn. When you find out what’s really going on you may become anxious to avoid the fast food of the title – the stuff that kills – but you’ll end up with your taste buds tingling!

This rollicking adventure offers an insight into the RV culture of the western states and proves that retirement does nothing to dampen an adventurous spirit.

[Shilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 innocent middle aged RVers end up working as undercover operatives for a secret government agency in this fun quick paced novel that takes place near my home in the desert southwest! Made this especially fun foe me !