Murder on The Oceania (A Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery #1)

Author: Elizabeth Martin

3 out of 5 stars

Kendra Phillips and her best friend Angela have their dream jobs. Kendra is the catering director for a cruise line, and Angela is the senior event planner. During an awards gala for The Cheesecake Room, the company’s CEO dies after eating a piece of cheesecake. All signs indicate that he was poisoned. To save her job and her reputation, Kendra has to investigate and find the killer quickly before the ship reaches shore.

I’ll start off by saying that the murder was well written. The way it was set up and the background of the victim was well done. I was intrigued and immediately theorizing as more information was revealed. I could think of a few ways it could have been done, and there were multiple suspects.

However, I had an issue with the lack of explanations for how investigations like this would be handled. The managing director is questioning witnesses and suspects. They’re being questioned without lawyers. It made me winder how this would be handled in real life. If it is actually accurate, I want more of an explanation.

Also, I wish there had been more details about them being out at sea. Except for when they mention going back to shore, it’s never mentioned. There are also few details about the ship. Change some jobs and this could have taken place in a hotel.

There were also a few editing mistakes. The only major one is that Angela’s last name was changed from Smith to Bailey within the story.

I think of these kind of short stories as a way to get a taste of an author’s writing style. And there just wasn’t anything in this story that stood out and made me want to read anything else by this author. It wasn’t bad, but it was very average, which is why I’ve rated it 3 out of 5 stars.

Current price through Amazon Kindle: $0

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I41TS2C

(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)