Mercedes Spivey can't believe her luck when she wins a cruise for two to Cuba. It's her home, and her American husband has been invited to speak near the University in Havana. This solves the problem of transportation and cost. Her spidey sense goes on alert while on board the Nautilus. Running into not one, but two former acquaintances that link her to her former boyfriend, Lorenzo, who died in a fire in Havana. I liked the bits in Havana, there was a lot of local color. Mercedes wasn't super likable, with her greed for a richer life almost predatory when revealed through the memories she recalls from the past.

A book that has Cuba as the setting always grabs my attention. When I first started reading the book version, I was not all that impressed, but once I received the audiobook for review, I decided to give it another chance. I just finished listening and would definitely recommend the audio version. The narration really brings out the atmosphere of the book, much more so than just the words on paper. This is a story of several passengers who are mysteriously given free passage on a cruise to Cuba. Their stories have a connection and, combined with the rich Cuban cultural descriptions, the book was very interesting. Lots of twists in the story, as well as excellent characters. Highly recommended!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* didn't care for the main character, the story wasn't that bad but not really my cup of tea i guess

3 stars

This murder mystery connected with a dark past is a bit contrived but still fun, & the ending fizzled. However I did enjoy the setting in Cuba & the colorful characters.

[What I liked:]

•Mamina is a great character! I enjoyed her the best out of all the characters. She definitely evokes a doting grandmother.

•Contrived or not, the backstory surrounding Lorenzo, the Viking, Javier, & the circumstances of the suspicious free cruise, etc. was interesting & fitting for a cozy mystery.

•I enjoyed the setting details, the descriptions of Cuban food, & the tidbits of history about Havana.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•When her husband goes missing, Merceditas first decides to look into a mysterious death from years ago because it *might* be related; this is before she informs the police, the US consulate, or does anything else. That made no sense to me.

•Many of the main plot points are also contrived (the fire that conveniently made it hard to identify Lorenzo, an unbelievably easy case of identity theft, a supposed criminal mastermind confessing to a serious crime in an email traceable to their name, etc.) Also, why the extremely elaborate revenge only to give one of the ostensible targets a million dollars? That was inconsistent.

•Merceditas is not the most sympathetic MC. She betrays the love of her life for mercenary reasons (twice!), has a drinking problem & resents the fact that her loved ones want to help her with it, & in general doesn’t have much agency or long term goals in her life beyond hoping her husband gets a better job.

•The ending fizzled a bit. The pacing felt off when, after the murders in Cuba & her husband disappears, Merceditas goes back to Florida, looks for a job, & just…kinda waits around.

CW: infidelity, substance abuse, murder, suicide, accidental death

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

I liked the idea of this book- a mystery set in Cuba. I am not sure that this mystery quite makes the grade. There were too many Spanish phrases that were not translated so I was confused! The narrator was quite excellent.

After listening to Death Under. the Perseids. I felt like I had traveled to Havana. I could imagine the food, the bustling city, and the intrigue of Havana. The narrator’s accent lended to the feel of being there in Havana. The intrigue of solving the mystery made it difficult to stop listening.

I didn't enjoy this book. I really liked the main character, who is definitely not perfect and has a really distinct cuban, sexual, funny personality. However I felt the writing was kind of weak. The story got majorly bogged down in exposition, to the point where I lost track of what was happening. I would definitely read more by this author but this book just didn't do it for me.

Death Under the Perseids by Teresa Dovalpage is a mystery that takes listeners on a cruise to Cuba! I enjoyed getting to solve this one while exploring Havana and the politics of a university there! It was quick and an easy listen.

This audiobook was given to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Trigger warnings for this book include violence, infidelity, and misogynistic slurs.]

Death Under the Perseids is a murder mystery set in a cruise ship docked at Havana, Cuba. Positives for the novel include the great descriptions of Havana and life of the locals at the time. The audiobook narrator, Cynthia Farrell, is also really great at capturing the accents of different characters of different backgrounds.

The novel could really have benefited from not being slow with the plot as a lot of it felt like filler information. Characters also needed to be much more well-developed. This book had potential, but was not as enjoyable as it could have been.

**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

I struggled to get into this story. It just never grabbed me or held my interest. Sorry