Treacherous Cruise Flirtation

A Rachel Prince Mystery #12

by Dawn Brookes

Prepare for an electrifying voyage when paradise becomes perilous!
When Rachel stumbles upon a lifeless body sprawled on a sun bed, she dives headfirst into a chilling murder investigation.

Just when Rachel is enjoying paradise Hawaiian style on board the Coral Queen, a group of private nurses and their eccentric patients bring trouble aplenty. Not least when one of them is murdered. With its exotic locations, Hawaii forms the perfect backdrop to the latest in the Rachel Prince cozy mystery series.

Join Rachel and the indomitable Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe as they peel back layers of secrecy and lies following the demise of a private nurse. Whilst unveiling a web of treachery on the high seas during their luxurious Hawaiian cruise, Rachel and friends must be careful who they trust.

With red herrings galore and multiple twists and turns, hold on tight for an exhilarating escapade that will leave you gasping for breath. Get ready to be enthralled and longing for more!

Genres: Cozy Mystery

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2023

About the author

Dawn Brookes is an award winning cosy mystery and crime writer who also writes memoirs and children's books.
She has an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction.

Dawn writes most days and publishes regularly, to keep up to date visit her website.

Rachel Prince Mysteries:

#1 A Cruise to Murder set during a Mediterranean cruise
#2 Deadly Cruise set during a transatlantic crossing to New York.
#3 Killer Cruise set during a Baltic cruise.
#4 Dying to Cruise set during a cruise around Australia and New Zealand.
#5 A Christmas Cruise Murder set on a Canary Island cruise.
#6 Murderous Cruise Habit set on a Caribbean cruise.
#7 Honeymoon Cruise Murder set on a Mediterranean cruise.
#8 A Murder Mystery Cruise set on a cruise to the Norwegian Ffords.
#9 Hazardous Cruise set on a Mediterranean and Adriatic cruise.
#10 Captain's Dinner Cruise Murder
#11 Corporate Cruise Murder set in India.
#12 Treacherous Cruise Flirtation set in Hawaii.
#13 Toxic Cruise Cocktail set on a SE Asia cruise.
#14 Cruise into Darkness

The Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mysteries

#Prequel Novella Death of a Blogger
#1 Murder at the Opera House
#2 Murder in the Highlands
#3 Murder at the Christmas Market
#4 Murder at a Wimbledon Mansion
#5 Murder in a Care Home
#6 Murder at the Regatta
#7 Murder on a Bus Tour

Carlos Jacobi PI

#1 Body in the Woods Award winning novel.
#2 The Bradgate Park Murders
#3 The Museum Murders

Nursing Memoirs

#1 Hurry up Nurse: memoirs of nurse training in the 1970s

#2 Hurry up Nurse 2: London calling
#3 Hurry up Nurse 3: More adventures in the life of a student nurse

Books are available in paperback, hardback, large print, kindle ebook, and audiobook.

Dawn grew up in Leicester, England and trained as a nurse. She later moved to London to undertake further training in the East End. Dawn worked in the NHS in England for the best part of thirty-nine years and during that time gained a wide range of experience as well as academic and professional qualifications. She also holds an MA in Creative Writing.

Dawn's website can be found at: https://www.dawnbrookespublishing.com

Children's Books

Dawn has written a number of children's books including:

Suki Seal and the Plastic Ring

Gerry the One-Eared Cat

Danny the Caterpillar

Ava & Oliver's Bonfire Night Adventure

Ava & Oliver's Christmas Nativity Adventure

Jesus Feeds a Big Crowd

Jesus Heals a Man on a Stretcher

Dawn founded a literature festival in her locality which aims to engage readers and authors with all things literature.

Reviews

[Livia]

★¸¸.•*¨*•★My spoiler free review★•*¨*•.¸¸★

Series:Book 12, A Rachel Prince Mystery
Release date: 09-30-24
Format read / listened to: Unabridged Audiobook courtesy of LAPL digital loan (via Libby app)
Narrated by: Alex Lee
Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
Publisher: Oakwood Publishing
Category: Cozy Mystery

Audible Ratings Scale:
Overall: 4.5 stars
Witty / Page turner / Unpredictable / Wonderful characters / Entertaining / Easy-to-read / Original

Story: 5 stars
This was the first time that the location setting was one I was familiar with because I worked for 2 different Norwegian Cruise Line America (NCLA) ships that had Honolulu, Hawaii as the home port. That added an additional layer of enjoyment to my listening experience. Rachel and Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe had fun sightseeing and playing sleuths yet again. I especially liked how Rachel pointed out to Waverly why an African American male nurse might justifiably distrust the police. 👏🏽

Performance by Alex Lee: 4 stars
I love Alex Lee's ability to animate the main and supporting characters, and she is very adept at doing different accents very well. However, I continue to wish that she would change her vocal style for both Rachel and Sarah because currently they are too falsetto-like for my personal preference. Fortunately, the clever and entertaining writing style of author Dawn Brookes and narrator Alex Lee's other vocal acting strengths always help with my mild annoyance with Rachel's and Sarahs'voices.

Up next: I'm looking forward to discovering who the next murder victim is in book 13, Toxic Cruise Cocktail if it's ever released in the audiobook format.

[Margaret Richardson]

I just do not know how Dawn does it. Another brilliant 5* read. Apart from that and with a few chapters to go I knew who the culprit was! I will say no more in my review as I do not want to spoil it, except I was correct. This is the first time and this is the 12th book. This proves how good they are.

It begins where Rachel & Carlos were having a few days break, after a couple of attempts they make it. The 2 previous breaks were cancelled due to Covid. Do not worry as it is just mentioned early on. They had a lovely break and the night before they were due to go there separate ways they see a group of people in the same hotel. The next morning Carlos leaves Rachel to fly back to England. Before he left her he told her to say out of trouble! To me Carlos should save his breath. Rachel then meets up with Lady Margery who is paying for her friend and they have there usual suites on the Coral Queen.

At the Hawaiian evening party Rachel notices that the same group of people she had seen at the hotel were also on board one who was a nurse was flirting with a few men. Later that evening after Margery had gone to bed, Rachel was having a walk round the deck and finds a discarded nurses hat and further along on a sun bed finds a woman 'sleeping' If you have read any books by Dawn in the past, you will know the woman is not sleeping but dead!

This begins yet another murder mystery on board the Coral Queen. The usual characters, Sarah, Jason and chief Waverly set about trying to find out who the culprit was. Plenty of action, 2 further attempted murders.

I am an avid cruiser although I do not go on the large ships like the Coral Queen, life on board is the same and descriptions are exact. If you do not cruise rest assured they are very safe!

Once again I have no hesitation in recommending this and giving it 5*

[Christine]

Twists, Turns & Red Herrings Everywhere!

For the 1st time reading one of Dawn Brookes’ mysteries I knew who the killer was fairly early in the book. Or so I thought. Brookes excels in writing believable characters in addition to interesting and tangled storylines. She’s deviously clever in planting red herrings and deflections. My head spins with new developments and newly suspected culprits. Treacherous Cruise Flirtations kept me on my toes to the denouement. What I believe was a glaring inaccuracy in this book took me by surprise, and that explains my 4 stars rating. The American nurses in this story were wearing starched linen nurses caps. My entire career has been spent working in the medical field, and it’s been decades since I’ve seen nurses wearing what is now considered vintage nurses caps. That detail was disconcerting and seemed to be an egregious error in an otherwise meticulously written series of books. From the onset I suspected the nurses were all fraudulent scammers. I don’t think that was intended to mislead the reader, but was it? (After 2nd guessing myself, several times, my initial guess turned out to be correct. Score 1 for me! I’m not, however, smug enough to think that’s likely to happen again. Dawn Brookes just might be this century’s Agatha Christie!)

[Jane litherland]

Rachel and Carlos have enjoyed a week break In Hawaii an early anniversary celebration before Rachel joins her friend Octogenarian Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe at Honolulu Airport and waves her husband off back to London then the ladies are boarding the Coral Queen for a cruise around the Hawaiian islands. A rather rowdy set of nurses and their charges join the ship at the same time. Rachel suspects there could be trouble but not another dead body….The heat is on and nothing to do with the Hawaiian sunshine as the friends investigate when one of the Nursing party is killed. All the usual staff members including Rachel’s best friend and nurse Sarah Bradshaw and her husband Jason Goodridge ship’s security, are in readiness to follow Rachel’s leads, twist turns and red herrings aplenty to pick the bones of much to Sarah’s chagrin when Waverley cancels her husband’s night off . As the cruise sails and passengers come and go unaware of the danger , Rachel and friends need to formulate a solid plan before someone else’s demise . Very well written , just the right dose of humour to go with the mystery and suspense. I read an arc of this book and my review is voluntary in my own words

[Alice Hazelbaker]

Lady Margery and her younger good friend Rachel Prince decide to take some time to relax on a Hawaiian cruise on the Coral Queen, where another good friend, Sarah, works as a nurse. But when Rachel discovers a dead body, apparently strangled, on a lounge bed, she and Margery are off on another murder-solving adventure! Also on the cruise is a group of private nurses and their odd set of patients, who seem to be up to no good. While enjoying side trips to the various islands, and the amenities of the luxury cruise ship, they get to know the group. This, the 12th book in this delightful series, is so full of twists, turns and surprises it leads you on an exciting chase! I received a free ARC of this book from the author and write this review voluntarily.

[Kat]

Dawn Brookes is a notable cozey mystery writer and has been writer this delightful series of cruise ship mysterys for a while as you can see this is the 12th " Rachel Prince Mystery " Rachel Prince is not alone in her cruise ship mystery enquires there is an array of supporting characters with equally impressive backgrounds as well as a husband in the investigation field .This cozey mystery full of intrigue, mayhem and comradery will have you captivated from the beginning not letting you go until you've reached its unexpected and climatic conclusion. Acquire " Treacherous Cruise Flirtation " for an engaging well written and enjoyable read. Kat

[Kevin Cannon (Monty's Book Reviews)]

Murder, Attempted Murder and plenty of secrets just waiting for Rachel Prince and her friends to uncover.

When a private nurse accompanying her employer is strangled on a cruise ship it throws suspicion on the rest of their party. Is anyone exactly who they claim to be?

Can Rachael and her companion Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe discover the murderer before it's too late

Fun murder mystery with a collection of eccentric characters and lots of hidden secrets

[Kristi Blessing]

A fun and interesting cozy cruise ship mystery

I love cozy cruise ship mysteries! I have really enjoyed this series. I love all the recurring Coral Queen diverse and entertaining crew. The storyline had me guessing from suspect to suspect with a surprise at the end. I highly recommend this book and all the other books in this series. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Ashli]

just ok

This has been my least favorite of the Rachel Prince series so far. It was too far fetched & unbelievable. I kept stopping to roll my eyes & tell my husband about some of the absurd situations. I’ll keep reading the series though of course because I’ve grown very attached to these characters over the years. This book was just a miss for me. Here’s hoping I enjoy the next one more!

[Kay Cook]

Hawaii

What better place to have mystery. Rachel and Marjorie did it again. I love these books partly because they are on a cruise ship because I love to cruise. And the way there part is because of the characters they are all just great. I have to admit I make seed hearing more from Bernard. He always bring in a good laugh. Can't wait for the book.

[sue phillips]

Another great Rachael Another great rachel prince cruise mystery!

These cruise books Are light mysteries. Also each place they go to you you hear about that area and you hear about what a large cruise ship is like. Like I'm on vacation on the cruise ship when I read them. All they keep players become friends. Recommend Highly.

[Lynne]

Rachel and Carlos have had a wonderful week in Hawaii. When Carlos leaves for home, Rachel boards the Coral Queen with her old friend Marjorie. Also boarding are 4 private nurses with their patients. One of the nurses is strangled on the first night at sea, and Rachel finds her body.

[Denise Ballheimer]

Good plot

Love the characters, both regular and plot cast. Easy to read. This series has been addictive. May not be to everyone's taste, but a good 'who done it' on a cruise does allow escapism and worth a try.

[Joni]

glad there will be more

This is the only book in the series that I figured out who was the murderer. This is a good series. Rachel goes on cruise ships and solves the murders. Great settings, funny characters , I really liked the books

[Patty]

As always with this series, 3.5 rounded up I keep hoping for more cruise activities and ports but there never is enough. At least they were in Hawaii, a place I know well and love. The case didn't make that much sense but I like Marjorie.

[Maureen D McDonald]

Fun read

I love the Rachel Prince mysteries. They are so entertaining
Characters are created so well and they have their quirks you can't do anything but love reading about them.

[Barbara]

Enjoyed reading this story with all the possible villains. The mystery was excellent and I adore the regular characters. I have to admit some of the other reviewers were better than me, I had no idea who was involved. Strongly recommend the series and this book.

[Bob Miller]

I thought the book was too long. It had a lot of filler and not much meat to the characters or much praise about the author. No need to get any of the others

[Catherine Hoidal]

good read

This book was written by the original author. It’s the tone and the way the words are spoken, someone has an underwriter. Good job