Jeff Soloway Books In Order

Publication Order of Travel Writer Mystery Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jeff Soloway is an Award-Winning author that is responsible for the travel writer mystery series. The books follow the exploits of a travel writer that encounters mysteries during the routine of his work.

Jeff Soloway has good reason to write about cunning travel writers. After all, authors are always encouraged to write what they know, and Jeff Soloway has experience in the travel writing business, having worked as a writer and then an editor for travel guides.

Like most travel writers, Jeff’s job kept him on the road, moving from location to location as he tried to give his readers a glimpse of his firsthand experiences via well-selected words. Editing travel guides was definitely a step up for the author.

Sure the adventure was somewhat lost, but the author’s family probably appreciated the fact he was home a lot more. Jeff eventually left the travel guide business behind, taking up a role as a book editor in New York. Jeff has been rewarded on numerous occasions for his writing efforts over the years, this including receiving the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award (Mystery Writers of America).

A background as a travel writer might not look like it lends itself to mystery writing but Jeff Soloway found a way to inject his experiences into the mystery genre, creating the travel writer mysteries.

The books provide insight into the lives that travel writers live. And from what Jeff Soloway’s protagonist says, it is clearly the farthest thing from a glamorous job. Certainly, there are perks. When a travel writer like Jeff has assignments, he lives like a King. He gets to stay in all the best hotels and taste the most exotic foods.

After all, as a travel guide, he couldn’t possibly begin to give readers a taste of the amenities his destinations have to offer without first dipping his toes into these same luxuries. And the fact that one gets to stay in the best hotels and enjoy the best views on someone else’s money makes the field all more enticing.

But that is only when one has work. A travel writer that has no work risks starving. The stories Jeff Soloway tells try to show the dual lives of travel writers. His characters get entangled in mysterious crimes by accident, with their curiosity then driving them to keep poking and prodding until they find something they shouldn’t have.

Jeff Soloway has a slow writing approach, one that sees him take his time to put all the right pieces in the right pace before finally getting the ball rolling.

+The Travel Writer

Pilar Rojas has a problem. She is the PR Agent of a Hotel in the lush jungles of the Andes where an American journalist just went missing. Pilar cannot afford to see the resulting international incident ruin the image of the posh South American Resort.

So she calls the only person that can help her. Jacob Smalls and Pilar used to date but things didn’t end well. The travel writer didn’t expect to hear from his ex-lover. But when she calls, Jacob doesn’t hesitate to come to her aid.

And it isn’t like she is asking for much. Pilar wants Jacob to write a puff piece praising the resort’s many virtues. More importantly, it’s an all-expenses-paid trip and Jacob would never turn down an opportunity to live large.

Once he arrives at the resort, Jacob Smalls cannot help but investigate behind the scenes. Working with Pilar isn’t easy. Jacob still finds her intoxicating and he cannot help but hold onto hope that he can win her back.

Bolivia turns out to be far less friendly place than Jacob expected. Even before he can begin snooping around, Jacob attracts the wrong sort of attention. People start stalking, threatening and frightening him.

There’s more going on in Bolivia than meets the eye and someone doesn’t want Jacob to get on the right trail.

This is the first book in the Travel Writer Mystery series. It is also Jeff Soloway’s debut novel. The book begins with Pilar Rojas trying to maintain order at a Bolivian luxury hotel. A New York travel editor went missing from the hotel and everyone is looking to Pilar for answers.

The local police and even the FBI haven’t had any luck in tracking the missing journalist down. If she’s been kidnapped, a distinct possibility, Pilar knows that things will quickly regress into a nightmare.

Jacob Smalls is a travel agent and the last person one would expect to help find the missing journalist. But Jacob has his talents and he knows how to make his way through foreign territories. So Pilar wastes no time in summoning him to Bolivia.

Jacob loves free trips, so he hops on the first flight to Bolivia. The result is a light-hearted mystery adventure. The exotic location is a great draw for readers. Jeff provides interesting insight into life in Bolivia, this while also exploring the experiences of a seasoned traveler like Jacob.

Jacob is accompanied on his trip by Kenny, a young man that has a crush on the missing journalist. The interactions between the two characters are responsible for most of the humor.

In some places, this book reads like a travel guide for Bolivia. But a lot of the detail Jeff Soloway provides about the destination eventually proves relevant to the case. There is an underlying message about the superficial nature of tourism.

+The Cruisers

No one expected Carlton Chomp to become president. The television personality was just another right-wing business tycoon. He had no business swimming in the murky waters of politics. And yet that is exactly what he did, making it all the way to the office of the president.

If that wasn’t shocking enough, Carlton’s reign only lasted a year before he resigned. As far as anyone was concerned, Carlton was in exile somewhere, content to stay out of the limelight.

The ex-president returns to the public conscious when he headlines a cruise to the Bahamas. Jacob Smalls is a travel writer relishing the opportunity to review the cruise.

With his mother accompanying him on the trip, Jacob makes it his goal to figure out why Carlton resigned. When one of the cruise’s passengers dies in the wake of massive protests and counter-protests, Jacob cannot help but suspect Carlton of murder.