First published 2017
Celia Kilbride boards the cruise ship Queen Charlotte to escape the humiliation of her fiancé's arrest on their wedding eve. The gems and jewelry expert plans to keep a low profile while giving lectures on the luxury liner's maiden voyage. She befriends Lady Emily Haywood, an eighty-six-year-old wealthy passenger who owns a priceless emerald necklace destined for the Smithsonian. Three days into the voyage, Lady Em turns up dead and her precious necklace vanishes. The suspects multiply quickly: Brenda Martin, the victim's loyal assistant; Roger and Yvonne Pearson, her lawyer and his wife; Professor Henry Longworth, a Shakespeare scholar; and Alan Davidson, a widower planning to scatter his wife's ashes. Celia teams up with fellow passengers Willy and Alvirah Meehan, who are celebrating their forty-fifth anniversary, to hunt down the killer. As the ship continues toward its destination, Celia discovers she has placed herself directly in the murderer's crosshairs.
Genres: suspense, mystery, thriller, contemporary-romance
Vibes: fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family
Setting: Queen Charlotte, Smithsonian
321 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster