Crime Quiz: Cruising for Clues

by

T.J. Stanley

Fun, cozy mystery set on a crime writing themed cruise.

Crime Quiz: Cruising for Clues by T.J. Stanley is a fun who-dun-it set on a five-day mystery-writing-themed voyage from Sydney to Hobart and back. Inspired by an actual occurrence, the deaths of five passengers onboard a cruise ship overnight, the story features the events before and after the discovery of the fictional deceased during a major at sea. 

The story focuses on a small party of passengers, who, with the exception of one mother-son couple, are complete strangers to one another at the start of their voyage. But as the cruise’s crime writers conference gets underway, their participation in the offered activities brings them together with unexpected results. By the time of the storm, the ill-fated five are all connected to this one group. 

While told mainly from the viewpoint of the newly-unemployed cleric and aspiring author, Reverend Thomas Martin, other characters also get their moments in the spotlight. Interesting secondary storylines develop, and readers get to know the characters who will soon become possible suspects in a bold shipboard crime. The author packs a lot of story in this lively novella-length mystery. I enjoyed the book’s unique and unexpected resolution, as well as the mentions of mysteries and their authors that arose during the passengers’ excursion to literary-connected locations in Hobart. 

I recommend CRIME QUIZ to readers of cozy mysteries, especially those who enjoy stories set on cruise ships or in Australia or Tasmania. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.