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There's nothing better than travel, even if you have to do it by immersing yourself in a good mystery. In this case, you can cruise along with amateur sleuth Dotsy Lamb, who also happens to teach ancient history at a Virginia junior college. Hitting all the Ancient Greek hot spots, Dotsy, her best friend Lettie and husband Ollie, and Dotsy's potential new beau, Italian Carabinieri Marco have all embarked on the Aegean Queen for an enjoyable vacation. Trouble sets in early, however, when Ollie and another fellow traveler George, head off to the ship's casino for some action after dinner. While at the casino, they meet some other travelers who've come aboard and whose mission while cruising is to search for Greek antiquities to buy along the way. The four men agree to go play a private game of poker, and when the game splits up for the night, George (the big winner) goes missing. With Ollie being the last one to see George, he comes under suspicion of murder when George cannot be found the next morning, but the ship's security do discover a pool of blood on deck along with a strange suicide note. In an effort to clear Ollie's name, Dotsy decides to do a little amateur investigating, while Marco joins forces with the FBI from the American Embassy in Athens as well as the bumbling security detail on board. Despite searching, no body is found. It also comes to light that George was forced to change careers recently because he was accused and convicted of making sexual advances to a student at the school where he was principal. And it turns out that the very same young woman who accused George is now one of the dancers on the same cruise ship. Things get even more complicated when Dotsy and the onboard lecturer begin to notice some valuable antiquities on the ship that could be the result of theft. On the island of Mykonos, the ship's photographer is killed, upping the stakes in the plot, as does an accidental sighting of George's wife embracing another man so soon after his disappearance. Someone begins to grasp that Dotsy is on to something with the antiquities, and they begin disappearing from their display cases. By the time the ship stops in Rhodes, Dotsy realizes that she is being followed, but by whom? When the ship docks in Crete, the different pieces of the puzzle begin to come together, and the action heightens as well. Soon Dotsy is dodging bullets, a little more than she bargained for on a relaxing cruise. Author Maria Hudgins manages to sort the pieces all out by the story's end and even throw in some comic relief for good measure. Whether readers enjoy reliving their own Greek cruise or are just on board for a good cozy mystery, DEATH ON THE AEGEAN QUEEN will fit the bill nicely. §Christine Zibas is a freelance writer and former director of publications for a Chicago nonprofit.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, March 2010
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