Tag: books on ships

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Mysteries set on boats 2

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Happy Wednesday everyone. I’ve already done one set of murders set on boats, but I’m back with even more this week. And I’m not ruling out a third post in the further – because there’s the latest Three Dahlias that I still haven’t read and I’m sure I can find some more…

Death on Lusitania by R L Graham*

Set on the Lusitania in 1915, if you’ve spent any time looking at maritime history around this time you’ll know that the omens are not good for the passengers on board the voyage from New York to Liverpool, but on board is Patrick Gallagher, who in charge of getting a disgraced diplomat back to Britain. Gallagher is a former sailor turned civil servant of a fairly specific type and when another passenger is found shot dead in a locked room, the captain asks him to investigate. He quickly uncovers a range of people who could have wanted the victim dead and the countdown is on until they enter the war zone. This is a carefully constructed mystery, that moved a bit slower than I wanted it too initially until all the twists and turns really started to kick in. The pace did pick up as the end approached, but the actual ending was over pretty quickly. I liked Patrick as a character though and I’m pleased to see that there is another book featuring him because there are definitely some lose ends left about him and his personal life.

Murder Below Deck by Orlando Murrin*

This is the second book about Paul Delamare, and after the murderous events of the first book he’s been inveigled into a trip on a super yacht to help a friend write her memoirs. Except that once he gets on board things start going wrong and all is definitely not quite what it seems. I really enjoyed Knife Skills for Beginners as you may remember and was really pleased to be back in Paul’s world again. A book set on a super yacht felt like it was something a bit different but I think this plot is more far-fetched (I can’t really say why because: spoilers) but it moves so quickly that you don’t really notice that until the end when you have time to think about it. It has got a large cast of pretty unlikeable characters outside of Paul and the claustrophobia of the limited communications on the yacht really adds to the tension. I enjoyed it and will happily read a third book if it should come along.

Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen

This is the first in Rhys Bowen’s Molly Murphy series and is a little bit of a cheat because the murder happens at Ellis Island just after Molly has got off the ship to New York, but a lot of the build up to it is on the ship. Molly is fleeing to America after committing murder in self defence. She’s also travelling under an assumed name and looking after children that aren’t hers, so being prime suspect in a murder investigation really isn’t what she needs. This also looks at the Tammany Hall corruption of the era as Molly tries to clear her name and keep her chance to stay in America. It’s a promising start to a series – I will read some more just as soon a as I get the to read pile down!

That’s your lot today – Happy Humpday!

Book of the Week, fiction, reviews

Book of the Week: The Unsinkable Greta James

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So, I had a really hard time picking today’s choice, because I loved Lessons in Chemistry *and* The Unsinkable Greta James and I could only pick one. But as Lessons in Chemistry is all over the place – including in paperback at the airport – I thought I’d write about Great today because you might not already have heard of it.

Greta James is an indie music star. She’s had magazine covers and sold out gigs and a few hit songs. So why is she on a cruise around Alaska with her dad weeks before she’s due to be launching the always tricky second album? Her parents were meant to be taking the trip together for their fortieth wedding anniversary, but her mum died suddenly three months before the cruise. And at her first gig after her mother’s death, Greta had an onstage meltdown that went viral. So she’s on the trip with her dad, attempting to ignore what’s going on with her career and trying to improve her relationship with her dad. Because her mum was the supportive one – who encouraged her to follow her dreams and her dad was… not. Will this trip bring them closer together or drive them further apart than ever? Also on board the ship is author Ben Wilder – who is there to deliver a lecture about his book about Jack London’s Call of the Wild, but is struggling with writing his follow up…

I really enjoyed this. I do like a book about a musician (see Daisy Jones and the Six) and I love stories about family relationships (see Guinevere St Clair and Young Pretenders most recently) and it’s only a couple of weeks since I wrote a post about mysteries set on ships, so we know that I like them too. And this does everything that I was hoping it would do. Greta is passionate about her music and determined to succeed and her fractious relationship with her dad, her blossoming relationship with Ben and her grief and anxiety about the death of her mum add up to a fascinating leading character. And it’s a minor thing, but I really liked how explicit the book was about the work and the practice that had gone into Greta’s success – she plays her guitar, you hear about the hours she puts in to playing and composing. I feel like you don’t always get to hear about that in books about people in the arts – it’s portrayed like a magical thing that comes easily to people. And maybe to some people it does, but I think to a lot of musicians and other artists of various kinds it actually comes after thousands of hours of work and the first song you write (or painting you make, or book you write) isn’t the one that’s the big success – it’s the 5th or sixth or tenth or thirtieth.

I hate the term women’s fiction, but that’s the best I have got for this. It has a romantic plot strand but it’s not primarily a romance. And it’s much easier to read than literary fiction (another label I hate) tends to be. I read it across two evenings once the actual physical copy arrived chez moi after I bought this as part of my sample reading spree the other week. I’m not sure where I saw it recommended. I thought it was from Goodreads, maybe in their Anticipated Summer reads article, but no. So it could have been twitter or the algorithm because I can’t find it in any of my book-ish emails. Anyway this is the first Jennifer E Smith book that I’ve read and I shall keep my eyes out for more because it was a really delight.

I bought mine in hardback because after reading the sample I thought it might be one I would want to lend (and I think the prices for the physical copy vs the ebook were not that far apart on the day I bought it) and I have already sent it out on loan! I can’t see that it’s in stock in any of the Foyles stores so it may be one that you do have to order rather than pickup in a store, but it’s also available in Kindle and Kobo. The paperback is out early next year….

Happy reading everyone