reviewed by Virginia Watson-Rouslin –
The next time you’re contemplating a cruise, you might consider this: should a crime occur in international waters, it’s quite possible that the offender might get off scot free. Unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to have a retired Canadian detective aboard ship, as the passengers in John Smith’s murder mystery do.
World Cruise Lines’ M.V. Seascape is making its 17-day voyage from Barcelona to Miami and among its 500 guests are Jack and Jean Sterling from Toronto and wealthy Miami widow Rebecca Gessner, accompanied by her paid companion Hannah Goldman. The Sterlings are taking a well-deserved holiday after Jack retires as chief of the 500-person Metropolitan Toronto Police Service. Mrs. Gessner is staying in Royal Suite 7001, something so elaborate that her king size bed is said to “look like a small landing field.” She also wears a Tiffany diamond and ruby pendant valued at US$250,000.
This being a murder mystery, it seems clear that Mrs. G is in trouble. A substitute maid sees the pendant and tells a fellow Croatian named Radovan Rudman about it. They see dollar signs aplenty and so, with a pass key, Rudman enters the suite, assuming Mrs. G. is out. She isn’t. She interrupts him, he stabs her, she dies and the rest of the novel explores the difficulties of investigating a murder at sea. The ship is American owned by a Miami-based company, but like many cruise ships is registered elsewhere – in this case, the British Virgin Islands.
The VI officials aren’t interested in investigating and the ship’s security officer isn’t trained for this, but he knows someone whose years of experience make him the logical person to step up to the plate. And that would be Mr. Jack Sterling. He works with officials back in the Miami FBI Bureau and together, they do a decent job of securing the crime scene, collecting evidence and capturing the bad guy.
Smith does a good job explaining a captain’s difficulty in investigating and arresting criminals in international waters, but too much of the story rests in extended quotes from his characters, who sound quite similar. And that includes the Croatians. Smith is himself a retired RCMP officer.
New Releases – Available at Tanner’s Books
An Irish Country Love Story by Patrick Taylor (fiction)
When the Music’s Over by Peter Robinson (fiction)
Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith (fiction)
Rogue Heroes: History Of The SAS by Ben MacIntyre (non-fiction)
A Number of Things: Stories Of Canada Told Through 50 Objects by Jane Urquhart (non-fiction)
None Of This Was Planned by Mike McCardell (non-fiction)
