“Starboard Secrets” is Book 1 of the Cruise Ship Christian Cozy Mysteries Series.
BONUS – RECIPE INCLUDED!
Millie Sanders’ happily ever after is suddenly destroyed when her husband of 35 years comes home one day and informs her that he is leaving her for another woman. To make matters worse, the other woman happens to be her “friend” and hairdresser.
After months of mourning and moping around … mourning and moping around the house, she stumbles upon a help wanted ad in the newspaper for the perfect job as an assistant cruise ship director. Before Millie can talk herself out of it, she fills out the application and mails it in. Much to her surprise, not only does the company contact her, they hire her!
Determined to start a new life and new career, Millie boards the ship, ready for a new adventure. She isn’t on board the massive floating city – her new home – more than ten minutes when a dead body is discovered near the atrium bar.
Her curiosity gets the best of her and before she knows it, Millie finds herself right in the thick of the investigation. With a little help from a new friend and shipmate, the amateur sleuth discovers that the deceased had more enemies than friends, making this murder an even tougher case to crack.
Will Millie delve too deeply and risk losing her job – and possibly her life?
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File under:,cozy mysteries, cozy culinary mystery,cozy mystery culinary,cozy mystery,cozy mysteries with recipes,cozy mystery animal,cozy animal mystery,women sleuths,christian mystery,christian romance,christian fiction,mystery,christian mystery & suspense,christian books,christian suspense,cruise ship mysteries, cruise ship fiction
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After reading this first book in the series, I was hooked. The author writes a nice clean, sometimes funny, mystery. My husband and I love to cruise, so this series drew me in immediately.. The books make me feel like I am actually part of the story when we cruise. The first book was free and several of the others and the ones in between I purchased so I would have the whole series to read again. I have read all but the last one and would give them all five stars.
Shipboard Secrets by Hope Callaghan is a cozy mystery at sea that will delight anyone who loves to cruise. Well written with an older, more mature heroine, Millie, who decides to start the next chapter of her life working on a cruise ship. Day one somebody dies. Millie becomes emeshed in the mystery.
This was my first ‘cruise ship’ cozy mystery and I was not disappointed. Callaghan crafts interesting and unique characters you are bound to love. This plot was well thought out with twists and turns. There are a lot of books in this series, and I look forward to reading the next installment.
Cute story! No inappropriate language or sex. I would recommend this book, and would like to read more in this series and by this author. Millie had a way of getting herself into some interesting situations and prides herself in her abilities. No matter what others say,she is determined to solve the case.
After her good for nothing husband walks out on her, Mildred (Millie) Sanders sets out to be the new assistant cruise director aboard the Siren of the Seas cruise liner. Her first day on board she finds one of her fellow coworkers has been murdered. Working behind the scenes at her ex-husband ‘s PI business gives Millie the thought that she could solve this crime. Between being the trivia hostess with the mostess and cruise ship tour guide, Millie along with her new friend Annette question their fellow crew-mates but will they catch the killer before he sets his sights on one of them? Put on your life jackets, take your seasickness pills and join me for this AMAZING STORY!
What great entertainment! The whole series is fantastic and highly recommended.
A fun book! Millie is starting anew after her husband leaves her for another woman. She gets a job as assistant cruise director for a big cruise line. When she boards the ship, several people are standing around the body of a young woman. It turns out that the woman was murdered by a poisonous spider bite. Millie can’t help but want to investigate and finds a sleuthing partner in Annette, another crew member around her age. In between directing cruise events, Millie is sleuthing to see which of her fellow crew members may have killed the woman. A delightful story with an older sleuths. I look forward to reading more of this series and seeing what’s next for Millie and the other characters!
I thought this was great little mystery about Millie an associate director on a cruise ship. The setting is great and loads of fun.
I really enjoyed reading this story about Mildred (Millie) Saunders, a senior citizen who’s husband leaves her for a younger woman and she gets this job on the “Siren of the Sea” cruise ship as the Assistant Cruise Director. Millie didn’t stay at home after her husband but went out and moved forward in the next chapter in her life. I liked all the characters and there was humor with suspense. Looking forward to reading more about Millie.
Rated G
No sex, No violence, zero strong language,
Christian author – expect references to her beliefs. I was not bothered by this at all. It’s rather refreshing, although I wouldn’t have included paragraph-long prayers. That’s just me.
Very little suspense or tension.
About that suspense -I felt no anxiety on behalf of Millie, the main character. I wasn’t convinced that she was in any real peril although she was told to be careful by other characters. At least her claustrophobia could have been used as a jumping point for escaping a real or would-be adversary.
No Spoilers:
Good points: The plot unusual plot twist of using a spider as a murder weapon was great.
What I found perplexing is that the killer had to go to a pet store to buy this particular kind, which according to everything I’ve read, you can get by looking under piles of wood and other dark places just about anywhere in the world. Also, I don’t think this particular kind (see? no spoiler) can be bought anywhere.
I also appreciated that our main character, who is over 60, has chosen to re-build her life in an adventurous way after her husband abandoned her.
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Notes I made on my Kindle as I read (No spoilers):
17% (of book)
Example of one of many cliches:
“She’s a little tough on the outside but a real softie on the inside.”
17%
Sheesh! Her name is Mildred? That name would be very unlikely for baby boomers. That’s a grandmother or great grandmother’s name from the 1920’s or earlier and rarely used in the 50s or 60s. The nickname would be more believable if her name was Melanie or another more up-to-date choice.
17%
Overuse of passive verbs throughout the story caused my major in English to go all a-quiver.
Example:
“Off to one side was a baby grand piano. Sitting at the keyboard was a woman. The tune she was playing was vaguely familiar.”
Red pen in my hand I suggest: Sitting off to one side a woman sat at a baby grand piano playing a tune that Millie found vaguely familiar.
20%
“My name is Mildred…..But you can call me Millie.” Oh my goodness! This phrase gets really old by the 5th or 6th time it’s said in the 1st 20% of the book
35%
Inconsistency:
< Character seeing her name tag> “Millie.” He smiled. “So you’re the new assistant cruise director.” Did her name tag change?
Reading level: About 4th or 5th grade.
Expect some grammar errors – This is definitely a job for her editors, who should have been more diligent.
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Overall assessment: The book was okay. I wish she’d do a re-write because many of the plot ideas are really very good. I see that it’s the first of the series, so my hope would be that the author’s writing gets better over time and/or that her editors help her out.
Can I recommend it? It’s okay if the reader wants a very, very, very light cozy mystery.
For remarkably clean cozies, I suggest the Imogene Museum Mysteries. These fit the bill and seem to be written by someone who is familiar with the inside of a church.
Millie Sanders’ husband has left her for her so called friend and hairdresser. After she mourns and gets her life back in order she puts in an application to be an assistant director on a cruise ship. Little did she know she was getting the job.
When she arrives on the ship she sees several people looking over a dead body. This sets the tone as she helped her ex run a detective agency. With some help from her new friends, Zack a dancer, Annette the head cook, Andy her boss and Cat they find help find out who killed the woman.
I liked all the characters. The red herrings are some what noticeable and you might even figure out who did it before the end but what makes the book so much fun to read? Millie and her antics. She can get herself into some trouble. At the end is a nice recipe from one that is mentioned in the book and Annette.