Set Sail for Murder

Set sail for a soap opera that is thin on plot and thick with details on the characters' clothes, hair, and jewelry. Who wants the newly remarried Sophia Montgomery dead? Her husband, Jimmy, fears it's one of her stepchildren from a former marriage. He enlists the help of his former lover, retired journalist Henrie O, to find out, and she joins the whole family on a cruise. Kate Reading does the best she can with this fluff. She has a light tone, her characters' voices ring true, her accents are appropriate, and she gives the book a committed reading. This will find an audience with those who enjoy light mysteries. S.S.R. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2007
In the long-awaited seventh installment of Hart's popular series starring feisty retired journalist Henrie O (after 2001's Resort to Murder
), Henrie O's erstwhile lover, Jimmy, has married another woman, the dashing Sophia Montgomery, and he's afraid that one of Sophia's stepchildren from a previous marriage is trying to kill her. When Jimmy begs Henrie O to accompany his family on a cruise and get to the bottom of the suspicious accidents that keep befalling Sophia, she reluctantly agrees. It turns out that Sophia's stepkids have plenty of reasons to hate her, not least that she stands in the way of their inheritance. The scheming stepkids are predictable and two-dimensional, but Henrie O remains a complex character, and her struggles to keep her feelings for Jimmy platonic are every bit as engaging as the putative mystery. Henrie O's fans, and devotees of Hart's lighter Death on Demand series, will enjoy this quick read.