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Thursday, June 6, 2024

Book Review: Murder on the Med by Nancy Cole Silverman (Kat Lawson Mysteries #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Kat and a great story in a great location
Cons: A couple of minor niggles
The Bottom Line:
Kat in Italy
A relaxing assignment
That turns dangerous




Kat Finds Sailing with Seniors Dangerous

As I mentioned in my review earlier this week, it’s summer time, and, in addition to planning real vacations, it’s important to plan some virtual vacations.  That makes the release of Murder on the Med perfectly timed.  No matter what your summer plans are, you’ll want to go on this dangerous Mediterranean cruise.

This is the third book in Nancy Cold Silverman’s Kat Lawson series.  Kat is a former reporter who found a new job working for Travel International.  The magazine is a front for a branch of the FBI that investigates art fraud.  Yes, Kat is really tasked with writing articles, but she is also under cover on most assignments.

Except for this time.  This trip is just to spend a week on a luxury ship getting material for an article.  The ship is a little different, it’s designed for seniors to live on full time as they sail off into their sunset years.  Kat will definitely be the youngest passenger on the ship.  She’s subletting a resident’s two-bedroom unit for the week, while that resident, Dede, is off the ship.  After all, people need vacations from their vacation, right?

However, Kat’s only been on board for a few hours when another resident tells Kat she suspects Dede didn’t actually get off the ship but instead fell overboard.  The crew doesn’t take that theory seriously, but Kat can’t help but wonder when she finds Dede’s purse and phone in it in the unit.  Then she finds a hidden gold coin.  A very valuable coin.  Can she figure out what is really going on?

Fans of the first two books might be disappointed to learn that Kat is the only character who really returns.  I wasn’t too surprised given the setting, a luxury ship sailing off the coast of Italy.  On the other hand, if you’ve missed the first two books in the series, this is the perfect place to jump in.  And, given all the people we meet on board, we really don’t have time to miss those we’ve met before.  I had to work at it to keep these new people and their relationships straight, but it was worth it.  And Kat gets plenty of time to shine.

This book isn’t a traditional dead body and five suspects type of mystery.  That’s a great thing.  Ms. Silverman does a great job of keeping the suspense going even when Kat begins to piece things together.  I was wondering where the book was going to go, and then it gave me some great twists and had me turning pages even faster.

My only real complaint is the timeline seemed a little lax at times.  But you know me, that’s something I’m often looking at when I’m reading a book.  It’s nothing that really impacts the story, however.

On the other hand, I am more ready than ever to jump on a plane and explore Italy.  The ship spends the time on the Amalfi Coast, and I now want to see it for myself.

The series started out in the late 1990’s, which makes sense given the plot of the first book in the series.  We are now up to June of 2000.  While the book states that in the first chapter, I had to remind myself of that a couple of times with some of the things the characters reference.  Amazing what a difference twenty years makes, right?

Murder on the Med is another fun addition to this series.  Pack your virtual bags and enjoy this vacation with Kat.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.


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