The romance and adventures continue for Kayla and Steven in book two of the High Seas Mystery series. There is an angry ghost aboard a ship sailing to Bermuda and the Azores, while dangerous smugglers target Steven.
Praise for Murder on a Ghost Ship:
Crime, suspense, and shipboard romance, with a vengeful ghost to keep it exciting - this book has it all...Well drawn characters with several plot twists and a cleverly integrated sub-plot hooked me from the beginning and held me right though the last page. Good old-fashioned mystery and suspense with a little romance to keep it light. I enjoyed it - you will, too. Charles Dougherty, Author
Book Description:
When the president of Constellation Cruise Lines, Emily Schultz, buys an old cruise ship at a bargain price, she doesn’t discover there’s a ghost aboard until it’s too late to cancel the deal. Desperate for help, Emily calls Kayla Sanders and Natalia Baliskov back to work. They embark on a frantic search to discover the identity of the ghost and her murderer.
The “Lady” tries to communicate by flooding Kayla with crazy visions of the ship from her final voyage. Kayla realizes the ghost is afraid her murderer will kill another passenger sailing on their next cruise. The entire ship is filled with suspects and potential victims, since everyone on the Sea Mist is a repeat passenger.
The investigation ramps up when Kayla’s fiancé, Steven Young joins her onboard the ship. Suspended from Interpol after his partner got killed, Steven feels guilty and incompetent. While tracking down clever smugglers selling black market antiquities throughout the Mediterranean, Steven’s partner got too close. Steven doesn’t know there’s a leak inside Interpol! After the smugglers murdered his partner, they traced Steven to Colorado and wrecked Kayla’s cottage. Now they know he’s on board the Sea Mist and want to kill him.
Kayla must interpret her visions from the Lady in time to prevent another murder, and Steven needs to unmask the ruthless leader of the smuggling ring to get his job back. Their future depends on mutual success.
Excerpt
Kayla experiences a vision from the Lady:
Taking the stairs two at a time, Kayla nearly tripped. The world tilted on its axis, her vision blurred, and her stomach lurched. She grabbed the handrail. Icy coldness stung her fingers and she jerked free.
A miasma enveloped her senses. The smell of lavender and kelp drifted like a heavy mist through the open glass doors from the moonlit deck outside. Light fixtures shaped like seashells flickered, illuminating gold carpet and avocado green walls. She clutched a folded note between gloved fingers…
I’m not wearing gloves! Kayla thought and shuddered.
A loud “ding” announced the arrival of the elevator. Expecting to see the Lady standing inside, Kayla tried to run but stood frozen in place. The doors slid open and her mouth felt too dry to swallow.
Her vision blurred—and cheerful passengers walked lazily from the elevator to the sunny deck outside. A balmy breeze filled the corridor and a shaft of golden sunshine gleamed across salmon-colored carpet and coral walls.
Kayla’s knees buckled. She gripped the solid wood handrail to steady wobbly legs and gulped deep breaths. What happened to me? Glancing at her shaking bare hands, Kayla wished she’d read the note before it disappeared.
Professional Reviews
Excellent research, lively characters and an exciting climax
Setting a mystery on board a cruise ship is quite a challenge. Some writers might be tempted to rely on a casual tourist acquantance with the workings of such a ship, but not Diane Rapp. Her research is thorough, with insight into the inner workings of a cruise line, and beautifully integrated into the mystery.
Nor is she satisfied to introduce a ghost and an old murder, and let those elements carry the tale. Instead, she builds her story skillfully, creating likable and complex characters, ongoing suspense and double threads that result in a thrilling final sequence.
As a mystery author myself, I'm a hard reader to please. I was impressed with this story and enjoyed it from start to finish. Jacqueline Diamond
An amazing discovery & cannot wait to look up the other works of this author.
The president of Constellation Cruise Lines, Emily Schultz, discovers that the ship that she has recently acquired has a resident ghost with violent temper tantrums. She asks Kayla to help her before her most recent acquisition becomes a source for loss. Assisted by Natalia Baliskov and Stephen Young, Kayla starts by trying to find out who the ghost once was. Soon it becomes clear that the woman was a previous passenger of the Sea Mist, who had met an untimely death on board. She was pushed to her death and now she is trying to prevent another murder on the ship. But it is a difficult job as the current passengers on board is all second time passengers of Sea Mist. There's also another parallel story going on with Steven being on board as he is suspended from Interpol after his partner is murdered. The people who murdered Steven's partner are now tracking him and intent to kill him too.
It was only after I had started reading this book that I realized that this was the second part of a series. But after a couple of chapters, I was relieved as though the main characters seem to be connected through the first book; this book can be treated as a standalone. For a first time reader of this series, it wasn't really difficult for me to get to know the characters. They slowly built up for me as the story progressed and I found it easy to feel connected to them through the printed words. I have to say that I loved Steven and Kayla. They have their own fair share of troubles, yet they emerge as strong and loveable characters.
The storyline has mystery with a touch of paranormal and action that keeps it interesting. It has a kind of slow build up and though at the beginning I was getting impatient, the pace soon picked up and looking back that build up was necessary. With secrets kept and unveiled and each passenger under suspicion at least once, it was a thrilling ride to take on board of the Sea Mist. The author has also managed to paint vivid pictures of people and situations through her pen and so it was pretty easy to get into the story. bOOk r3vi3ws
Murder, She Floated
Imagine Murder She Wrote revised for today with Jessica Fletcher's granddaughter and an engaging, youthful coterie...all fans of Agatha Christie. Though Diane Rapp remains very much her own woman in this second series entry set aboard a cruise ship, the Fletcher/Christie comparison holds: the emphasis is fun, not gore--though the author doesn't hesitate to show her edge when called for...the amateur sleuths are engaging folks we want to spend our time with...and the author's gift for misdirection, from suspect to suspect to suspect, makes our heads spin gleefully.
The supernatural twist in this book is well-played. The ghost of a passenger murdered on a previous cruise haunts the Sea Mist. And Emily, the President of Constellation Cruise Lines, may lose her job if she can't show this spook the door--and quickly. Soon the young old gang is back: adorable Kayla...sexy psychic Natalia...and Steven, Kayla's fiance and intrepid Interpol cop.
This author could charge for lessons in series standalone tactics. She reintroduces her characters and their back stories with dazzling ease. And in her expert hands 'escapist entertainment' means not escaping from but escaping to a wonderfully ordered and beautiful world where wrongs are corrected by people we love in stouthearted, imaginative ways.
This is one of favorite new series. And I do hope this author will put on some speed in getting out the third. Reb MacRath
Children will enjoy reading and hearing about the silly antics of a puppy still learning how to be a good listener. This story is about Riley, a cute, little, rescue puppy who gets into all sorts of predicaments.
