Book Review: Cruising for Murder

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Cruising for Murder     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Susan Sussman , Sarajane Avidon
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Amateur Sleuth   Theater
St. Martin’s, Jul 2000, $23.95, 288 pp.

Chicago performer Morgan Taylor is a will-o’-the-wisp, as she never stays in one place or job for any extended time. After eight months acting in the play “Rent”, Morgan is tired and needs to move on. Compounding her feelings of entrapment is that she is beginning to form a commitment with her boyfriend Detective Roblings of one year. When her best friend Kathy, a cruise ship entertainment director, asks her to perform for three weeks on the Island Star, Morgan immediately accepts.

Upon boarding the ship, Morgan learns that the person she is replacing was killed during a storm. Morgan takes over her predecessor’s room that she shares with Jackie, an acrimonious woman who must be the roommate from hell. Morgan avoids the queen of bitches and joins her fellow entertainers on a trip to the beach. Morgan finds a dead Jackie bundled inside a beach bag in the ocean and this discovery leads to the realization that Jackie’s former shipmate was also murdered. Morgan becomes the next target of a maniac, but in spite of her growing fear, she refuses to run and hide.

The story line of CRUISING FOR MURDER is brisk and breezy while the heroine is a sparkling ball of energy that catches the reader’s attention. The who-done-it is fun and anyone who has taken a cruise will know that Susan Sussman and Sarajane Avidon have captured the festive somewhat decadent atmosphere, which adds to the overall plot. This novel is an entertaining effervescent amateur sleuth story.

Harriet Klausner

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