Undercover on the High Seas
When I realized I was close enough to catching up on Diane Vallere’s Madison Night Mysteries that I could review the newest when it came out this year, I started to focus on them a bit more. Not that I mind since I have fun with these mysteries. So it was no surprise when I enjoyed The Glass Bottom Hoax, the newest entry.
Madison Night is a decorator living in the Dallas area who specializes in mid-century modern decorating. She was inspired by her love of all things Doris Day.
However, this book finds Madison doing something different. Thanks to her resemblance to the actress, she’s going undercover on a cruise ship as a Doris Day impersonator. She’s supposed to perform two nights singing some of Doris’s biggest hits. Her real assignment, however, is to try to figure out who is behind some robberies that have been taking place on the ship recently. Her boyfriend, Tex, is along as well, although he won’t have any official capacity since they will be well beyond his jurisdiction as a police captain in Dallas.
The ship has barely set sail when Madison stumbles over a dead body on one of the decks. Suddenly, the stakes are raised. As Madison and Tex’s cover gets complicated, can they maintain their secret and figure out what is truly going on?
There’s a lot happening in this book between the mystery and some of the other situations that come up. We jump into the story very early, and I was never bored as I read. The ending works, although I feel like part of it was a stretch, but maybe that’s just me.
As always with this series, there are some Easter eggs for fans of Doris Day. Some are general, and some are specifically tied to the movie the title is riffing on, in this case, The Glass Bottom Boat. Again, one of them was a bit of a stretch for me, but it was also fun.
And fun is a key word for this book. The cruise ship setting was fantastic, and I wanted to join Madison and Tex on board. This ship has some extras that it would be great to experience in real life.
Plus, it was nice to see Madison and Tex working more closely together than usual. Tex, as a police officer, is rarely willing to share much with Madison, but he had no such concerns here. Madison also got some time to reflect on their relationship.
Since they are out of town, most of the regulars are reduced to cameos at best. Yes, I missed them, but the new characters filled in the gaps for us.
While we may have taken Madison out of Dallas, she is still a decorator, and that pops up a few times over the course of the book in fun ways.
If you’ve enjoyed Madison’s previous adventures, you’ll want to book passage on The Glass Bottom Hoax as soon as possible. If you’ve yet to start this series, you’ll want to fix that.
Be sure to check out the rest of Madison Night’s mysteries.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
A ship setting should be a lot of fun!
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