Murder on the Caronia

Overall I was disappointed because this novel had a great setting but was poorly written. Lackluster plot. Poor character development. The only parts well-researched have to do with the ship itself and read like a textbook, while the rest reads completely out of the time it's set. The dialogue is choppy and repetitive. The description is lacking. And the mystery left much to be desired. Even the quotes from the New York Times Book Review about this series seem to be waiting for a big BUT after them...

“The shipboard atmosphere does sparkle...” BUT

The main characters really needed to sort out their priorities. They mostly wandered around aimlessly, despite the pressing need to investigate and solve crimes. Genevieve spent the most amount of effort trying to figure out which of her suitors sent her flowers, and she even failed at that. Then they put all their focus on a murder case that was not theirs to solve in the first place, in which the suspects had already been apprehended, instead of hunting down the drug ring they were supposed to be investigating. Do they at least solve the murder? Nope. The culprit confesses in a completely melodramatic and ridiculous way for what seems like no reason at all. They did clear up the drug ring in the end, in a very rushed way, even though we had no clues about it for majority of the book. And along the way, we got to know nothing about the main characters or their relationship. So... yeah, overall I was disappointed.

I actually read this novel as part of my own research about ocean liners. I picked this one of the series because it had the best ratings. But I wouldn't read any more of them.