Book Description:
When Lady Swift embarks upon her first luxury cruise she imagines a gilded ballroom, afternoons on deck taking tea and all the delectable food she can eat. But she can’t seem to escape from murder…
Lady Eleanor Swift is all set to spend her birthday with her beau, dashing Detective Hugh Seldon, until he calls to cancel on her again at the last minute. What’s a girl to do? Pack up her staff and her faithful old bulldog, Gladstone, and head off on a cruise to New York, that’s what!
On the stunningly opulent ocean liner Celestiana, Eleanor tries to forget her worries and make the most of her trip. That is, until she sees a man being shot and falling overboard. On closer inspection of the scene, Eleanor literally stumbles over the likely murder weapon. And the nick in the barrel is unmistakeable: this gun belongs to Detective Seldon…
With some discreet digging, Clifford discovers Detective Seldon is aboard the ship on an undercover mission. Eleanor doesn’t want to make waves but she’s sure that something fishy is going on and he’s being framed. To get Seldon off the hook, Eleanor casts her net wide and searches for the real murderer among a sea of suspects including European nobility, Italian opera stars and American nouveau riche. But does the victim’s expensive gold ring point to a lavish lifestyle or is it a red herring?
When another passenger is found dead in his first-class cabin, a poisoned whisky glass clutched in his hand, Eleanor realises they are really in hot water. Will the killer be Eleanor’s catch of the day, or will she spend her birthday at the bottom of the sea?
A totally charming, unputdownable Golden Age mystery with characters readers will adore. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'Death On Deck' by Verity Bright.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Verity Bright, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 9th March 2023.
This is the eighth book I have read by this author. It is also the thirteenth book in her 'Lady Eleanor Smith Mystery' series but can be read as a standalone. I have previously read Verity's 'A Witness to Murder' (3rd book in the series), 'Mystery By The Sea' (5th book in the series), 'Murder At The Fair' (6th book in the series), 'A Lesson In Murder' (7th book in the series), A Royal Murder (9th in the series) and 'The French For Murder (10th in the series) and' Death Down The Aisle '(11th book in the series) which I would also recommend reading.
I was originally drawn to this book by its fantastic eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A totally charming, unputdownable Golden Age mystery with characters readers will adore. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss. .' I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Verity and if this is as good as 'A Witness To Murder', 'Mystery By The Sea', 'Murder At The Fair', 'A Lesson In Murder', 'French For Murder', 'A Royal Murder', 'Death On A Winter's Day' and 'Death Down The Aisle' it is sure to be an epic read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of 41 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in England 🏴, UK 🇬🇧 and on board the ocean liner Celestiana. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture. I have actually visited and had holidays in England on several occasions so am looking forward to seeing if I recognise anywhere that Verity has based the book on.
This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonist is Lady Eleanor Smith. The benefits of third person perspective are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO VERITY ON YET ANOTHER PAGE TURNING SUCCESS!!
This book is yet another successful unputdownable cosy mystery by the very talented Verity Bright. I'm always a bit dubious with books based historically as I worry about not being able to 'deal' with the language used but I absolutely love how Verity has written her books. The language used is perfectly suited to the era whilst being easy to read and making it quite humorous on several occasions. The atmosphere and descriptions were perfect. The synopsis and cover also suit the storyline.
The storyline had me hooked immediately and I love the way that Eleanor and Clifford go about their detective work. There was so much going on that it kept me entertained thoroughly throughout with mystery after mystery and clue after clue. It was filled with suspense, mystery, laughter, murder, clues, deceit. tension, suspense and so much more!! It is absolutely perfect to read either curled in front of the fire or lying on a beach which not many books can achieve. I never did work out who the killer was and was completely shocked when they were discovered. A great achievement as I am a huge crime fan and tend to work out who did what quite early on, especially considering I have read so many of Verity's books yet she manages to get me everytime. I must add that I absolutely adore the cover of this book and I think it's one of the nicest in the series so far. The atmosphere was perfectly suited to the Mystery. I absolutely love that it is set on board a luxury liner where we not only get to see how the other half live, so to say, but what it is like to be stuck somewhere you cannot escape with a killer on board!! There is also the added tension and suspense of one of our beloved main characters being framed for the murder!! I also love the fact that although this is a cosy mystery it also had me in stitches of laughter in so many occasions which makes it the perfect light hearted read!! If your looking for a dog dressed as a policeman, a Lady with an attitude and a lighthearted cozy murder mystery then look no further!!
I alway thoroughly enjoy reading Verity's historical notes that she includes at the back of these fantastic book so ensure you don't forget to read those. I love learning about history do was fascinated by the information she includes in the historical notes about:
*The History Of Forensic Firearm Identification
*Playing Cards
*Passports
*Passenger Liners
*First Class, Second Class and Third Class Passengers
*Eating & Drinking
*Black Opals
*Sharks
*Dante's Inferno
Thank you Verity for including these, as fascinating as always and I have learnt yet more intriguing facts that I had no idea about previously.
Although this is the thirteenth book in the series I had absolutely no problems reading it without the others. Any details or events that have previously happened are mentioned in just the right amount of detail to let a new reader know what has happened and yet not too much to bore a previous reader.
I absolutely love these characters and always love meeting them in each of these fantastic books!! They are all larger than life, realistic and a complete breathe of fresh air. Eleanor is an amazing character, very bubbly and certainly not your typical 'Lady', she is absolutely unique as well as a very strong female lead which is a great bonus for myself being female. I absolutely adore her relationship with Clifford along with the rest of her "staff" that she treats more like friends. The only downfall is that herself and Clifford are fictional as these are two characters I would absolutely LOVE to meet in real life!! Clifford is absolutely fantastic and I really enjoy how he makes me laugh with his diplomatic skills while being extremely sarcastic at times. It is so sweet how he has taken Eleanor under his wing and admonishes her in several occasions in his humerus ways. They are like the perfect comedy duo but don't tell Clifford!! I also love Seldon who is completely overworked but still such a gentleman who is constantly on edge with Eleanor's adventures!! I must say that I love how slow burning the relationship and romance between him and Eleanor has been. It makes a nice change to boy meets girl and gets together within the first few pages. I loved meeting them all again along with Butters, Trotters, Polly and Lizzie who are all larger than life with their own exceptional personalities. I can't forget the absolutely adorable Gladstone who is an adventure in himself!!!. I cannot wait to meet them all again and see what they get up to in the next "episode".
A huge congratulations on another fantastic success Verity!!! Here's to looking forward to your next book 🥂
If you are looking for a cosy mystery that will have you laughing until your crying look no further!!!
This is exactly why you are one of my favourite authors and this is one of my favourite 'series' Verity! A page turning and unputdownable success!
Overall a fun and easy to read page turning cozy murder mystery with the perfect amount of crime and humour that will keep you turning the pages.
Genres covered in this novel include Cozy Mystery, Murder, Mysteries, Cozy Crafts & Hobbies Mystery, Cozy Culinary Mystery, Amateur Sleuths, Cozy Animal Mystery and Crime amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of T E Kinsey, Agatha Christie, Lee Strauss and anyone looking for a very easy, page turning and enjoyable read.
334 pages.
This book is just £2.99 to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited and £8.99 on paperback via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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Author Bio:
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
Purchase Link
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0BMGRWZDWsocial
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