A dangerous hitman. An elderly woman in danger. All that stands between them is a broken-hearted young woman.Join Rachel Prince, cruise ship sleuth on her first outing aboard the fictional Coral Queen. Prepare yourself for murder and mayhem with plenty of red herrings.Rachel is twenty-five years old, and appears to have everything. She is beautiful, bright and a recently qualified police officer. … beautiful, bright and a recently qualified police officer. What else does she need?
The problem is that the fiancé she was deeply in love with has ditched her for another woman!
Now what should she do?
Rachel needs rest and relaxation. To help her recuperate her best friend Sarah, a nurse on board a cruise ship offers the solution. Surely a Mediterranean cruise will help?
Well it couldn’t hurt….
Or could it?
When Rachel befriends an elderly woman in her eighties, the titled, Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe appears concerned about something. Danger and malice seem to surround her…..
Meanwhile, Rachel finds herself falling under the spell of the charming and attractive Carlos. Who is he and why is he so secretive?
When a passenger meets with a tragic accident while onshore with Lady Snellthorpe, the tension builds. With danger threatening at every turn, Rachel needs to get to the bottom of this mystery before someone else is killed. She is putting herself in danger. Could she be the next victim?
This cozy/thriller has suspense and intrigue. A good, clean murder mystery with lots of red herrings.
You don’t have to like cruising to enjoy this book but if you do you might get a double dollop of pleasure.
A great debut novel by an emerging talent.
What readers are saying about A CRUISE TO MURDER
Can’t wait for the next book
It’s the kind of book you keep turning the pages
I was totally hooked from the first page
Absolutely brilliant! Liz
A perfect vacation read – like a Mary Higgins Clark book
A well researched, well written, very entertaining read
It would make a great tv series or film
The story kept me guessing Brigitta
Brilliant! Loved the medical insights on a cruise ship too.
Best book I’ve read in a long time!
Had to keep reading to see who the killer was.more
I’ve never been on a cruise, but reading one of the Rachel Prince mysteries by Dawn Brookes is almost as good as actually being there—with the added fun of trying to find a killer. The bio of the author says she’s a cruise veteran, and I loved the details about cruises and cruise ships that appeared in this book. I had read the second book in the series a while back, and if I’m remembering correctly, this one has a bit more detail about the ship and the cruise experience. The author did that right—put more in the first book and only touch on it in subsequent ones.
But back to the book itself—this one begins with Rachel Prince, a newly minted policewoman, heading off for a cruise on a ship where her best friend works as a nurse. Rachel has recently been dumped by her fiancé and needs to get away to get her head on straight. She meets an elderly and wealthy widow from the stateroom next to hers and soon begins to suspect someone is out to do harm to the woman.
The author has created a very likable character in Rachel and in the supporting characters, including her friend, Sarah, and the people she works with in the medical bay. This is a “clean” mystery, but there is plenty of suspense, thrills, and violence (without the gore). I’m looking forward to reading the others in the series and hope the author will keep them coming for quite some time.
I was gifted this audiobook by the author with the understanding that I would leave an honest review. Dawn Brookes is a new author for me and this is the first book in the series. The book started off kind of slow for me but once I got into it I was hooked. I thought Alex Lee did a great job of narrating this book. I liked Rachel Prince very much and will be looking forward to another book to see where her life will take her.
cosy-mystery, cruise-ship, suspense, law-enforcement
Beginning with the breakup with the fiancé and moving quickly through her qualifying for law enforcement, Rachel plans to take a break from reality and join her nurse friend who works on a cruise ship to the Mediterranean. She meets a delightful new widow taking her first cruise without her husband. And then things get real. Irregularly paced, but still a pleasant read full of misdirection, plot twists, and red herrings. I liked it.
Alex Lee is the perky voice actress narrating this comfortable tale.
I finished this mystery at sea a couple of days ago. Since I’ve already read book 2, Deadly Cruise I can say that it was even better than this very good start to this Rachael Prince series. I’m definitely planning on reading book 3 as soon as it’s available in audiobook format because I love the audiobook narrator style of voice acting.
A Cruise to Murder is the captivating first book in the Rachel Prince Mystery series. If you like determined heroines, devious plots, and jaw-dropping twists, you’ll love Dawn Brookes’s seafaring cozy. Rachel Prince, a newly minted policewoman, heading off for a cruise on a ship where her best friend works as a nurse. Rachel has recently been dumped by her fiancé and needs to get away to get her head on straight. She meets an elderly and wealthy widow from the stateroom next to hers and soon begins to suspect someone is out to do harm to the woman. Author Brookes gives you fleshed-out characters that you will love or hate, depending on their roles, and you may find yourself switching allegiance should you fall into one of the several traps she lays for you. This is a good read for both murder mystery fans and readers new to the genre. I highly recommend this novel. I gave this honest, voluntary review after being given a free copy of the book with no monetary compensation.
Rachel joins her best friend Sarah on a relaxing holiday cruise. Sarah is the ship’s nurse and Rachel is a brand new police officer. Sadly the trip turns out to be way more work than fun when they find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation. Rachel puts her new skills to the test to catch the killer before the cruise ends and the killer gets away
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I like this author is a cruiser and therefore knows her way around a cruise ship. Also that she is British is fun because she uses words like lift for elevator. I really liked the characters and story line but gave it 4 stars because if you did not read the description or that its a “Rachel Prince Mysteries Series” you would not know she was the main character as it could easily be her best friend who is the nurse of the ship that is. Not sure how that is going to work but I will see when I read the second book.
This review is for the audio book.
I enjoyed this book. It is a nice easy cozy mystery that had a few twists to keep the story interesting until the end. I like the behind the scenes look at the cruise ship and it gives you a feel of what it would be like to work there and think it makes for a very unusual setting for a murder.
When Rachel’s relationship breaks down her best friend talks her into joining her on a cruise ship to cheer her up and to celebrate her passing her exams to become a police woman. Rachel as a passenger and Sarah as a nurse on the luxury cruise ship. Rachel soon makes friends with a number of guests including an elderly lady called Marjorie. When Marjorie seems to be the victim of some unfortunate accidents Rachel’s police training kicks in and she wonders why anybody would want to kill a sweet old lady. This thinking gets her suspecting everybody on board the ship including the good looking man at her own dinning table but when another passenger is killed Rachel step up her sleuthing by turning into a body guard. With just hours until the ship reaches the final port can Rachel unmask a kill and keep Marjorie alive.
I like the narrator and think she does a good job, especially as she has to do accents from all over the globe.
I received this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving this review and all opinions expressed herein are mine.
Here, Rachel’s fiance suddenly decides that Rachel is not his forever girl and he dumps her. Totally shocked by this, Rachel needs a moment to recover. Her friend works as a nurse on a cruise ship so Rachel decides to go on a cruise go recharge her batteries. While onshore, a passenger is killed – is it an accident or murder? Rachel, a policewoman, begins to investigate.
This is a very clean cozy with some Christian references. I liked the MC and story with several fun twists – although parts were a bit predictable. For me, part of the fun of reading a cozy is to be able to guess the perpetrator amongst all the possible suspects or characters in the story – here, that was not an option. Overall, it was an entertaining read.
I listened to the story – the narrator did a good job.