Cruising for Murder

Morgan Taylor Mysteries #2

by Susan Sussman, Sarajane Avidon

When the curtains open on Morgan Taylor's second adventure, the Chicago actress is Restless, capital R. Hard at work for eight months starring in "Rent," the run has been good, but grueling. Between Morgan's growing boredom and the fact that her year-old relationship with homicide detective J. Roblings is going almost too well, Morgan's got an old-fashioned case of cabin fever. Add the harsh snowy weather and it's more than one showgirl can bear. So when long-time friend Kathy Bloch calls her to replace a last-minute deserter in the cruise ship's entertainment cast, Morgan jumps at the chance to trade the big city for the open seas.

Meeting Kathy and the Island Star in Miami, Morgan is greeted by palm trees, sunny skies - and the news that her predecessor, Angela Parker, was murdered aboard the ship. And is appears not everyone is pleased to see Morgan join the cast. Chorus girl and magician's assistant Jackie takes every opportunity to point out she should be the star. So when another entertainer is found dead, it looks as if Morgan's three weeks of show tunes and suntans are not going to be the vacation that she hoped.

Sussman and Avidon deliver an amazingly fresh and entertaining puzzle sure to have mystery fans crying "encore!" once again.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actress Morgan Taylor accepts a friend's plea and signs up as a replacement entertainer on the cruise ship Island Star. Her roommate turns out to be a bitchy chorus girl who wanted Morgan's starring role for herself, and who disappears in an untimely way. Morgan herself seems to have a stalker, and keeps getting injured. There's a lot happening in this comparatively short book. I wish the authors had continued with the series.

[Lois Baron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid entry.

Liked this one better than the first, actually, because it didn't include the heroine's friend Beth, who always was talking about her MS and seemed like a good candidate for the murderer.

[Susan Lundy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, fun summer read that I discovered only a decade after publication. Professional performer on a cruise discovers murder, smuggling, romance, and intrigue (not necessarily in that order). Worth a hammock afternoon!

[Lionel Hsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cruising for murder, de Susan Sussman
Cuando me puse a buscar títulos de libros que ocurrieran en un crucero apareció este, y me llamó la atención no tanto el título como su autora.
El título ya anticipa alrededor de qué tema trata la novela.
La protagonista es Morgan Taylor, una actriz, bailarina y cantante (en inglés las palabras "performer" o "entertainer" lo sintetizan muy bien) que tiene la posibilidad de salir de una helada Boston para ir hacia Miami y reemplazar a la cantante principal de un crucero (Island Star).
Más tarde se entera de que la muerte de la cantante anterior no necesariamente fue tan accidental, y ahí comienza el misterio a resolver.
La novela es muy llevadera, aunque solo se consigue en inglés y lo que más disfruté fue el tono fresco e inteligente que transmite Morgan a través de sus observaciones.
Muy interesante que aunque la protagonista se muestra muy observadora en los ámbitos que conoce (por ejemplo el mundo del espectáculo), se aleja del estereotipo del detective que sabe de todo y por eso puede resolver el caso.
En síntesis: se disfruta mucho.

[Julie Trapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Morgan joins a cruise ship's entertainment cast after being begged to do so by good friend Kathy. She only finds out after the fact that she replaced a performer who had been murdered. After a 2nd performer is murdered, Morgan has 2nd thoughts about taking the job.

Amateur sleuth at work. Morgan has many one liners, not all of them cute or interesting. You do get the behind-the-scenes stuff taking place on cruise ships and the workings of the t entertainment contingency. Not bad. I did not read the 1st book of the series. Maybe I will.

[Karie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this book out of the neighborhood little free library all for the name- seemed appropriate to take on with me on a cruise vacation. The book is a quick read. Like real quick. Perfect for a vacation, on the beach or as an in-between read. There are a few twists and turns- some you can see coming- others not quite in the way you thought. Would recommend for anyone needing a quick who-dunnit read.

[Anna Ertl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one came to a head and ended all at once. Didn't see it coming. Kept me guessing until the end.

Morgan helps her hood friend Kathy when she loses an actor/dancer for a cruise line. I did not understand giving a name tag with a dead person's name on it to the replacement. Morgan tries to figure it out, but she was doing it badly.

I look forward to reading other books by this author.

[Priya · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh my god such wild ramblings of a barely put together protagonist and a barely put together story!
after a while, her "humor" starts to grate on nerves and one can't wait that she is next on the murdered list :P

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at a thrift store. It was entertaining although I thought it moved rather slowly. I appreciated the angle of an entertainer on a cruise ship caught in the middle of the mystery. Different. I wasn’t enthralled, but I enjoyed. On to the next…

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. Ok enough to try one more.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well - Morgan does get herself into MANY fixes! But the writing is decent, cast mostly believable & so I’ll read another in the series.

[Ann Dickinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

mildly entertaining. Fairly gruesome murder scenes.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I learned from this book? Don't become a shipboard entertainer, or commit an affair with a married ship's officer ;-) (See my previous review re: Lust in Translation - I seem to have a theme going here!)

Anyway, yes, it's a decent enough mystery book, but better yet as an entertaining character study (within the first 80 pages at least). I think I'm enjoying it as much for the apt descriptions of the cruise ship, and what I'm supposing are fairly realistic descriptions of life on board as entertainment staff (given what I've heard and read from those who *have* worked in similar positions). There's a nice blend of familiar character types, and so far I'm liking the protagonist a lot. Which is what I'm supposed to do in a book like this so it's "so far, so good" at this point :-)

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book to read because at the time I was on a cruise in the Caribbean and couldn't resist reading a murder mystery that took place on a similar ship in the same location. If you have never tailored what you are reading on vacation to your vacation, I highly recommend it. This is a nice easy murder mystery in which I was unable to predict the ending (a big plus in mysteries for me) and which I really enjoyed. The main character was engaging and I although it is a short, quick paced storyline, it was still entertaining.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another fun little read. I learned lots about working on a cruise ship and solving the murder was also lots of fun. I'm sorry that there are no more books in the Morgan Taylor series.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea that this took place on a cruise ship. the storyline was pretty good.

[Denise M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

with Sarajane Avidon

[Bernadette · Rating 2 out of 5]

finished 2016-02-07.

[JenniferB]

Good writing style and quite witty. Plot/ending disappointing.

[Dallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of my favorite characters from the first book & another murder mystery I couldn't figure out!

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

A library find. July 2024.
Entertaining!
Some what funny!
It was spoiled by the unnecessary cuss words!