Book Review: High Seas Murder

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

High Seas Murder     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Shelley Freydont
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Theater   Senior Sleuths
Series: Linda Haggerty # 2
Kensington, Aug 2000, $20.00, 336 pp.

She retired from her dancing career to spend more time with her children, but they are now adults living on their own. Linda Haggerty, tired of her husband's long work absences, returns to the life she once left by joining the New Jersey-based Jeremy Ash Dance Company. There she finds the camaraderie she has missed for years. When the company accepts a series of performances on a luxury ship sailing the Caribbean, Linda agrees to accompany them.

Powerful rock producer Cameron Tyler sponsors and pays for the cruise leaving the ship with only two hundred passengers. This makes for an easier time on the performers as they have fewer guests to mingle with than anticipated. However, the cruise into paradise turns into a vacation in hell as someone methodically murders two passengers and a member of the crew looks like he is going to be falsely charged with the crimes. Linda's maternal instincts kick in as she sets out to prove the crewmember is innocent.

Minus the homicides, cruise ships are an experience that those readers who have not tried will want to do so because of the delightful description in HIGH SEAS MURDER. The vast cast appears genuine and the key players multi-dimensional while the secondary characters provide the leagues of depth to this ocean adventure. The who-done-it is entertaining because Shelley Freydont takes her audience on a sea cruise while her amateur sleuth story line sails with humor and action.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner