Book Review: Murder at Sea by Various Authors (Destination Murders Anthology #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Eight great stories set at sea

Cons: Cruise not included (although, after reading these, maybe that’s a good thing)

The Bottom Line:

Mysteries at sea

Eight delightful cruising plots

You will sail away

Set Sail for Eight Fun – and Deadly – Cruises

Just in time for summer, the third entry in the Destination Murders short story anthology has been released.  This time, we are cruising with killers in the eight fun mini cozy mysteries in Murder at Sea.

Those who have read the previous anthologies in this series will recognize the names here as everyone here has participated in at least one of the previous two anthologies if not both of them.  (One just happens to use her pen name and feature a different series this time around.)  While most of the authors chose to highlight the characters from their series, a couple of them feature characters that they’ve written about in previous anthologies.  The result is more time with characters we love if you’ve already read these collections.  But don’t worry.  If you are new to the collections or the characters (I still haven’t read some of the series by these authors), anything you need to know is explained.  I never felt lost as I was reading.

So, what kind of stories do we get in the collection?  Celebrity chef turned food festival judge Jackie Norwood finds danger on a cruise to Norway where she is supposed to be judging a cooking competition for a food company.  A girl’s weekend in Key West lands Barbara Marr in danger on board a yacht.  A second attempt at a honeymoon lands a young couple in the middle of murder in Italy.  Even a cruise to nowhere ends up in murder for a group of vacationing friends.

Honestly, there wasn’t a bad short story in this collection.  While I enjoyed some of them more than others, all of them were fun, and I liked my time with all of them.  Yes, some get a little creative with the cruise theme, but I really didn’t mind.  The stories were great, and a little variety isn’t a bad thing.

As I said earlier, I’m not familiar with all of these authors outside of these collections, but this reminded me that I need to read some of their books.  I enjoyed getting to know the characters in all the stories, and I felt they were well developed for the amount of page time they had.

Likewise, the plots were all inventive.  It is amazing how many different ways there are to get rid of someone on a cruise ship.  After reading this, it might be time to stay home for a while.  Anyway, the twists were well done, and each story gave us a satisfactory resolution.

I know short stories can vary in length.  While some of these stories are longer than others, on average, they took me about 45 minutes to read.  Obviously, people’s reading time varies, but with eight stories here, you get a full-length book when you pick this up.

If you are looking for a perfect book to pick up for your summer travels or wanting a fun distraction while you stay home, you’ll be glad you booked passage on Murder at Sea.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Included Stories:
“Cruise from Helheim” by Cathy Wiley
“Pie-Co” by Karen Cantwell
“Double Deep” by Gretchen Archer
“Last Chapter at Sea” by Meri Allen
“Seafood Rub” by Leslie Budewitz
“Two if by Sea” by Shawn Reilly Simmons
“A Sail of Two Continents” by Tina Kashian
“Bon Bon Voyage: Gone with the Tide” by Eleanor Cawoood Jones