Rachel Prince is back…Rachel’s plans to spend Christmas with her fiancé are in tatters after he is called to Italy at short notice.Rather than spend Christmas with her parents, Rachel decides to take a last-minute Canary Island cruise. Sarah, cruise ship nurse and Rachel’s best friend is only too pleased to have her along as Sarah’s parents are taking their first cruise. With her mother keen … first cruise. With her mother keen for her to settle down she is glad of the moral support.
During a coach journey to the port of Southampton, Rachel meets a petulant maître d. That evening the same maître d is found dead, seemingly a victim of a tragic accident. Rachel can’t resist snooping once she suspects an element of foul play. Was it a fatal accident or murder?
Chief security officer Jack Waverley finds himself confused and upset when his wife is implicated.
Suspects are not in short supply as secrets are uncovered providing opportunity and motive. The killer has an eye on Rachel.
Can she find out who is responsible before she ends up as another victim?
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Rachel Prince is at it again, this time on a cruise over Christmas that includes her friend Sarah’s parents as passengers. Rachel meets a very unpleasant man on the bus she takes to where the ship is boarding. He turns out to be the maitre ‘d of a new restaurant on board the ship, and shortly after the ship sails, he turns up dead. He has a nut allergy, and at first, the death is blamed on the security chief’s wife who is in charge of baking for passengers with allergies. It doesn’t help her case that her sister used to be married to the dead man and was abused by him. Rachel, of course, thinks there’s more to it and sets out to solve the case. Adding more intrigue, her friend Lady Marjorie calls to tell Rachel that friends of hers are on board and she thinks they’re in danger from a gold-digger daughter-in-law.
As usual it’s great fun to solve these murders along with Rachel, as well as great fun to “see” the ship and its stopovers through her eyes. While the title does have “Christmas” in it and the story takes place during the days leading up to it, this isn’t a holiday novel so no need to save it till December.
This is book five of the series, and at the end the author says book six will be coming in 2020. Can’t wait!
Whoever thought Christmas would be a time for a relaxing cruise never cruised with Rachel Prince! This was a wonderful cozy murder mystery, as always by this author. Great characters, a bit of romance, and a couple murders make for a fun read!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Sometimes plans don’t work the way you intend, and that certainly is the case for our heroine. Taking a holiday cruise to make up for busted plans with her beau, she instead gets caught up in a murder. So much for plans.
This is book five in the series, but each book is written as a standalone, so no prior reading is required.
This is a murder mystery book set on a cruise ship. The story is well written and easy to read and populated with an interesting cast of suspects, err, I mean characters. The mystery itself is a good one, with lots of twists and turns to it which keeps you guessing. I also particularly enjoyed it being set on a cruise ship. I have taken several cruises and I could just visualize where our heroine was as she moved about the ship. Overall, a very enjoyable book and I look forward to checking out others in the series.
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout for review purposes
I have only read one of the previous books in this series and I have not found that a hindrance to fully enjoying this book. Rachel and Sarah are great characters and the story is so unpredictable and very compelling. I hope to pick up some of the previous books to catch up.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Perfect Murder Mystery to Sink Your Teeth Into
What a delight this book was to read! I love a good mystery, though I mostly read cozies. Lately, it seems that cozy mystery authors are preferring to write novellas, which, honestly, I don’t think works for the mystery genre at all. The short novella format doesn’t give enough time and space for all that needs to happen in a good mystery. So I absolutely adored that this book was long enough to have space for the required red herrings, a large pool of suspects, deceit, and clues that look like they will be significant but actually lead to nothing. Mysteries need those elements, or it doesn’t feel like a proper mystery! While this is a book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. I personally had not read any books previously by this author, including any in this series, and I had no trouble following along with the characters or the plot. Given that one of the characters is a cruise ship nurse, I so appreciated that the author herself is or has been a nurse. I am an RN myself, and I’m quite often appalled at the medical or nursing errors that one finds in contemporary fiction, especially books written by Independence authors. I liked knowing that I wouldn’t have to worry about being appalled by those in this book. I also liked that all of this took place in a confined location (the cruise ship). When such a limiting structure exists, it ratchets up the tension and the conflict—which I adore in a mystery. I thought the book was in what I would call the British meandering mystery storytelling style, where the story is slow to build and can almost seem disjointed at the beginning, but you realize that this is with intent as you continue to read and when you reflect back on the book. Though I am an American, I actually quite enjoy this English way of writing mysteries. I thoroughly enjoyed this installment and will certainly go back and pick up other books in the series.
This is truly an enjoyable holiday cozy mystery read. The story line is written well, flows smoothly and captivates your attention. This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I can ‘t wait to read more.
A last minute decision to take a cruise rather than spend the holidays with her family give Rachel a chance to relax and unwind. That is until there is a death on the ship. After doing a little snooping, Rachel suspects foul play and there are plenty of suspects to go around. Will Rachel be able to prove if it was murder or just an accident?
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
When her private detective fiancé, Carlos, has to go to Italy to help his cousin with some undercover work in her hotel over Christmas, he urges Rachel to join her friend Sarah Bradshaw on a cruise. Rachel’s best friend Sarah worked as a nurse on board the cruise ship. Rachel, a Detective Constable and soon-to-be a Detective Sergeant, had assisted several times with murder investigations, so she was familiar with the ship.
Rachel boarded the bus to take her to the Coral Queen and had to take the only seat available, next to a grouchy man who reluctantly moved his bag so she could squeeze in. He gave his name as Stefan Sosa and told her he was the maître d in a new restaurant on board the ship. He commented that the waiters all hated him – but he didn’t care about them, saying they would have to carry him off in a box to get rid of him! He boarded the ship and ordered room service, knowing this was the crew’s busiest time and happy to create extra work for the lazy kitchen staff. When the meal arrived, Sosa washed down a bite of bread with his whiskey as pain hit his stomach and his airway swelled closed, his epi-pen nowhere to be found.
Once again Rachel takes on the challenge of solving a murder on the Coral Queen! But this is not an easy one since the victim had so many possible enemies. Can she gather enough clues to solve the crime? Can she pick through the copious supply of suspects to find who had a reason to kill the man?
This was a well written mystery with some regulars we get to meet along the way. Although this is the first of this series I have read, I had no trouble following the story line. Grab your copy and enjoy the mystery!
I enjoyed reading this book. I found it well written and interesting. The storyline drew me in and kept my interest throughout. I plan on reading more by this author. I recommend reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.