Cruise Capers


Boris Akunin
Murder on the Leviathan. Kensington, 1999.
Celebrated detective Ernest Fandorin joins police commissioner Gauche to determine which of the 10 unticketed passengers on the Leviathan is the rue de Grenelle killer.

Conrad Allen
Murder on the Lusitania. St. Martin's, 1999.
On the Lusitania's maiden voyage in 1907, former Pinkerton detective George Porter Dillman, has been hired by the Cunard Line to pose as a passenger in order to keep a lookout for professional gamblers, con artists and thieves who prey on the wealthy. The crossing is besieged by a series of thefts and then murder. Dillman joins forces with beautiful fortune-hunter Genevieve Masefield. Followed by: Murder on the Mauretania (2000), Murder on the Minnesota (2002), Murder on the Caronia (2003), Murder on the Marmora (2004), Murder on the Salsette (2005), and Murder on the Oceanic (2006).

Lori Avocato
Deep Sea Dead. Avon, 2006.
Insurance fraud p.i. (and former nurse) Pauline Sokol is the perfect person to go undercover as part of the medical team of a luxury liner called the Golden Dolphin as it sails for Bermuda. Her job is complicated by the relatives who've suddenly decided to sail along with her--not to mention the dead body that turns up in her cabin. 4th in the series.

Kathleen Bacus
Anchors Aweigh. Pub Grp, 2008.
Tressa "Calamity" Jayne Turner's dreams of a nice relaxing cruise with perhaps a little romance on the itinerary hit the shoals when she learns that her family has mistakenly booked a Weight Watchers cruise. She soon feels she's on her own version of the Titanic when a murder takes place. 6th book in the Calamity Jay ne series.

Leo Bruce
Death in the Middle Watch. Acad. Chicago, 2004, 1974.
The spirit of Agatha Christie is alive in this traditional whodunit featuring history teacher-turned-sleuth Carolus Deene, who is hired by the owner of a cruise line after threatening letters suggest trouble during the passage.

Candy Calvert
Dressed to Keel. Midnight Ink, 2006.
Needing a break from her cheating ex-boy-friend and her stressful job as an ER nurse, Darcy Cavanaugh goes on a fall foliage cruise with her best friend Marie. But sailing the high seas is anything but fun when jewelry is stolen and a cabin steward is murdered. Followed by: Aye Do or Die (2007) & Mai Tai to Murder (2007).

Agatha Christie
Death on the Nile. Dodd, Mead, 1985, 1937.
On vacation in Africa, Hercule Poirot has a vague, uneasy feeling about a pair of honeymooners he meets aboard the luxury steamship Karnak. As usual, his perceptions prove correct when the beautiful and rich new bride is murdered.

Mary Higgins Clark/Carol Higgins Clark
Santa Cruise. S&S, 2006.
In this holiday mystery at sea, an exclusive charity cruise hits troubled waters when two dangerous criminals are smuggle onboard.

Mary Daheim
Dead Man Docking. HarCol, 2005.
B&B owner Judith Flynn and her cousin Renie Jones score a free cruise to the South Pacific aboard an ultra-luxurious luxury liner, but their hopes of a grand adventure are beached and the ship never gets out of San Francisco when the body of their host is found stuffed in the piano at the bon voyage party. The 21st in Daheim's delightfully cozy B&B series.

Jessica Fletcher (and Donald Bain)
Murder on the QE2. Signet, 1997.
On a trans-Atlantic voyage, the indomitable crime-buster of Cabot Cove, Maine, is aboard the QE2 as part of a celebrity lecture series, but when a legendary actress turns up dead, Jess must contend with a ship-load of suspects. Jessica sails again in Panning for Murder (2007).

Shelley Freydont
High Seas Murder. Kensington, 2001, 2000.
Lindy Graham-Haggerty, a rehearsal director for the Jeremy Ash Dance company, accompanies the troupe on a 10-day artistic cruise to the Caribbean. Things are bad enough dealing with the clashing of so many high-strung, temperamental egos, but Lindy really has go be on her toes when a nasty critic takes a nose dive down a flight of stairs.

Jonathan Gash
The Ten Word Game. T. Dunne, 2004, 2003.
Antiques expert, sometime forger, and charming bad boy Lovejoy is lured aboard a cruise ship by some nefarious types who want to steal priceless treasures from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. He may be a rogue, but even Lovejoy has his standards and he puts his considerable gifts to the test to outwit the art thieves.

Hal Glatzer
The Last Full Measure. J. Daniel & Co., 2006.
In late November 1941, swing musician Katy Green, who plays fiddle and alto sax in an all-girl band, joins two old friends in a dance band on the SS Lurline en route to Honolulu. When the brother of one of the band members is murdered, Katy begins to investigate, but events are soon to be overshadowed by the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan.

Carolyn Hart
Murder Walks the Plank. Morrow, 2004.
In this 15th entry in the "Death on Demand" series, bookstore owner Annie Darling has arranged a charity mystery cruise, but soon the faux mayhem becomes all-too-real.

Set Sail for Murder. Morrow, 2007.
At the behest of an old friend (one time lover) who fears that the grown children from his wife's second husband may be plotting the unthinkable in order to gain control of their considerable inheritance, retired newspaper reporter Henrie O reluctantly agrees to join his family on a Baltic cruise. 7th installment in the Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins series.

Sue Henry
Death Takes Passage. Avon, 1997.
Another mystery series takes a vacation! On a cruise down Alaska's Inner Passage from Skagway to Seattle, State Trooper Sgt. Alex Jensen and his girlfriend, Iditarod racer, Jessie Arnold, are onboard the ship Spirit of `98 as it reenacts a historic moment from the Klondike Gold Rush, which included the ceremonial transporting of a ton of gold. Not surprisingly, it is the perfect setting for theft and murder.

Carl Hiaasen
Skinny Dip. Knopf, 2004.

While on a cruise celebrating their wedding anniversary, sleazy marine scientist Chaz Perrone pushes his wife, Joey, overboard because he suspects she has figured out that he has been doctoring water samples to help his corrupt employer continue illegal dumping in the Everglades. Unfortunately for Chaz, she doesn't die and is soon plotting her revenge. Another hilarious and over-the-top hoot-and-a-half.

Linda Howard
Burn. Ballantine, 2008.
In this story of romantic suspense, recent lottery winner Jenner Redwine goes on a charity cruise with her best friend Syd Hazlett, expecting nothing more exciting than spa treatments and art auctions. But this cruise also comes complete with kidnapping and mayhem.

Fred Hunter
Ransom at Sea. Minotaur, 2003.
While on a four-day Great Lakes senior cruise, octogenarian Chicago spinster Emily Charters finds a fellow passenger horribly murdered in her cabin. Emily's misgivings about the handling of the case by local police are assuages with the arrival of Chicago detective, John Ransom, her unofficial partner-in-crime solving. Eighth in a series.

Maddy Hunter
Norway to Hide. Pocket, 2007.
While guiding a group of senior citizens on a Scandinavian cruise, Emily Andrew is suddenly tripping over dead bodies. What else is new? Meanwhile, Emily's mother arranging a wedding disaster for her back home in Iowa. 4th in this series of travel mayhem.

Richard Tyler Jordan
Set Sail for Murder. Kensington, 2010.
In this 4th Polly Pepper mystery, the former musical comedy star embarks on a reunion cruise replete with has-beens, D-listers, and... oh ,yes, a killer determined to spoil everyone's fun.

Laura Levine
Killer Cruise. Kensington, 2009.
When her new teaching gig on a fancy cruise line nabs her a free vacation, Jaine Austen thinks it will be smooth sailing. But her troubles are only beginning when Prozac, her cat, stows away in her luggage. An ice-pick wielding murderer really threatens to scuttle the ship. 8th in the Jaine Austen series.

Peter Lovesey
The False Inspector Dew. Pantheon, 1982.
In the 1920s, London dentist Walter Baranov and his lover, Alma, plot the murder his rich, domineering wife on the luxury liner Mauretania, but when another murder occurs on board the ship, Baranor, who has adopted the alias of Scotland Yard Inspector Dew (of Dr. Crippen fame), is called upon to investigate the crime.

Sam McCarver
The Case of Cabin 13. Signet, 1999.
With the maiden voyage of their lavish new vessel, the Titanic, approaching, the owners of the White Star Line call in paranormal investigator/debunker Prof. John Darnell to uncover the truth behind a series of mysterious suicides in first-class cabin 13 of different White Star Lines ships.

Bob Morris
A Deadly Silver Sea. Minotaur, 2008.
The 4th Zack Chasteen mystery finds the former football player (and ex-con) turned tree-nursery owner and amateur sleuth, aboard a luxury cruise ship that has just been taken over by a group of gunmen...and his pregnant wife is also among the endangered passengers.

Susan Sussman, with Sarajane Avidon
Cruising for Murder. Minotaur, 2000.
Actress Morgan Taylor leaps at the chance to escape the harsh Chicago winter to join the entertainment cast of a cruise ship. Morgan then learns to her dismay, the her predecessor was murdered aboard the ship and soon her roommate suffers a similar fate.

Stella Whitelaw
Dead Slow Ahead. Severn, 2008.
Former dancer Casey Jones is now the Entertainments Director on a cruise ship. But things are all not sunny and bright on this Mediterranean cruise comes with something extra: death.

Sue Owens Wright
Embarking on Murder. FiveStar, 2009.
Widowed writer and sometime sleuth Elsie MacBean investigates a murder while on a 50th birthday dinner cruise aboard a paddle-wheeler on Lake Tahoe.

Selected & annotated by Linda Bova; updated by Lynne Kennedy


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