Reviewed by zooloo1983 on

5 of 5 stars

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How the frick do I start this review!! I mean I BLOODY LOVE IT!!! When Fiona told me Book 2 was finally done, I had to squeal a lot and loud, I have been dying to read this since I finished Dead In Venice where I met and fell in love with the no-nonsense Bella, crime writer extraordinaire and Will, oh luscious Will, who I still envisage as Will Dean…I mean ahem where was I.

Bella is back that is where!! I was worried when I read the blurb, no mention of Will, does that mean he won’t be here….. Never fear Fiona did not let me down at all, he was there and he was there a LOT.

Bella is asked on to a murder mystery cruise which sounds awesome, she is a team leader of a group to help amateur sleuths solve the murder. I love murder mystery I did one before and it was so much fun, so to do one on a cruise over a couple of days yes, please! What could be more relaxing, on a cruise ship, expenses paid doing what you love, well something could ruin that dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn… Stage right enters a LOT of fuss, none other Louise Myers and Joel Quigley. The ex-husband and the youngster, now this was a party, well for the readers, Bella and Will maybe not so much.

Sitting down at dinner the first night and about 30 pages in for the reader, in walks a character with a familiar name, hang on a second this character has even got a familiar spelling, oh wait that is me!! I AM IN THE BOOK! Now I was warned by Fiona I might not like my namesake but I loved her, she has somehow got me to the magnificent Tee, well bar one bit but I can’t divulge any of that information! I didn’t expect my character to be in much but all I will say is I am a helping hand – thank you, Fiona. 3

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As the nights play out, we get to meet the sleuths a little bit more when disaster strikes, while the guests are trying to figure out how the second victim was killed in the game, someone has actually been murdered!!! Wait, what! Well come on we knew that was going to happen! The only downside, it looks like Bella may have committed a murder, but she wouldn’t..would she?

Oh, this is a complete belter of a book! I mean I gushed so much and I still do about Dead in Venice that I think that Murder Ahoy might actually top that! When in DiV we meet Bella, in MA she came into her own limelight, and like my character, I might be her biggest fan! I love how she just says it how it is, she’s on a swearing ban (I would struggle with that) and well she is just so down to earth what is not to love!

I love Fiona’s writing because I flew this book in nearly 1 sitting, it got to midnight and I had to sleep otherwise I would have done. The chapters are short and they make you do that thing where you have to keep reading, you know the magic I am talking about, the one where they don’t want you to go to sleep and read on! I was there on the ship, running the corridors, eating in the Pearl, sitting on the balcony, bar the murders it sounds magical.

I guessed who the killer was, but it was awesome seeing the reasoning behind it and how it was done. All the while, we have Joel trying to throw a spanner in the works with apologies and sentiments. Zoé trying to befriend Bella at every opportunity, god I mean how annoying LOL and a team of sleuths who are split down the middle to whether they believe Bella is innocent or guilty.

I love the setting of being on a cruise ship because it amplifies the isolation, there is nowhere to hide when there is a killer on the boat. You watch and suspect everyone but there doesn’t seem to be a motive. What the frick is going on! This I will leave you to discover.

It is a no brainer, this is a book you need to read, you need to meet Bella and of course Will. You need to climb aboard the ship and you need to sit back and watch the (semi) professionals do their thing.

Final word, well I loved it and now I want more Bella….please!? She is by far my favourite fictional crime writing character and I reckon if she was real, we would be friends, well I would make sure of it…stalker much

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 13 June, 2020: Finished reading
  • 13 June, 2020: Reviewed