Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Oh it’s nice to be back in the Caribbean sun!
The Heat is On
What you need to know before your trail
The sequel to The Mercury Club sees Angie successfully running the business with Charlie and Patty. She is in a relationship with Michael and everything is going well. Charlie returns from a Caribbean holiday with exciting plans to take over a hotel out there – a new but risky venture for Mercury. It all seems perfectly possible, until a rival travel club opens up over the road, and threatens their livelihood and the future of the business. Launch is run by Lorenzo, a smarmy young man who does his best to win them over – only to double cross and cheat Mercury Travel out of their customers. With Lorenzo undercutting them at every step, Mercury must up their game if the business is to survive.
Locations
Reset- England - Manchester
- A: The Northern Quarter
- Netherlands - Amsterdam
- B: Van Gogh Museum
- C: Stedelijk Museum
Travel Guide
Manchester
Where the story begins and where the Mercury Travel Club now has competition
Amsterdam
They go on an art tour. And cycle round the city. Maybe you can visit the Van Gogh Museum and answer Patty’s question ” Why did Van Gogh paint a tatty black pair of shoes when there’s all this lovely landscape in the country?
The Stedelijk Museum has an extension that looks like a bathtub according to someone in the book
The author says:
“Amsterdam features in The Heat Is On and I’ve visited the city many times, I really do love the beauty of the architecture, calmness of the canals and of course the art galleries. On one trip with my girlfriends we visited the Stedelijk Museum which is the museum of modern art and it’s safe to say that one of my friends was a bit baffled by it all. There’s a scene in the novel where Patty and Angie come across a mop and bucket in the middle of the gallery and ask each other whether that’s one of the exhibits – well this really happened. I walked up to my friend to find out what exhibit she was “appreciating” to find her staring at a mop and bucket.
‘I’m not sure what they’re trying to say with this piece,’ she told me shaking her head.
A nano-second later a cleaner arrived, took the “exhibit” and started mopping the floor – we both simply burst out laughing.”
Scotland
“I based the treasure trail in The Heat is On around the west coast of Scotland and if you haven’t been there, you really must go. Hire yourself a sports car and go whizzing around the hairpin bends of Bleanach na Ba near Applecross. When I was there last I’d taken a campervan and my goodness, negotiating something the size of a small bus around those roads was pretty scary!”
“One of the reasons for choosing to feature Scotland was the library in the woods that I found on the Isle of Arran!”
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Just the kind of book you need on a warm night outside lounging on a deck chair with a glass of something bubbly in your hand. The Mercury Travel club was a fun read and now they’re back on more travels but this time with bumps in the road. A rival travel agency has set up shop and problems ensue. That’s the simple version of the plot but thanks to Helen’s writing, there’s a lot more to enjoy and it’s the characters which shine the most. There’s some nice locations in this one and even Manchester looks sunny when the Travel club magic gets ahold. It’s a great and fun look at the travel agency industry and the types of marketing and work they do. The characters are larger than life and should have their own comedy show to be honest but that’s what I like about the book. Quit aptly, it’s an escape, both literarily and otherwise. Get onboard with this series now!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Heat is On
Destination : The Caribbean, Manchester, Amsterdam, Scotland Author/Guide: Helen Bridgett Departure Time: 2000s
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