Loose Lips

A fun and fabulous mystery to recommend to your readers who have enjoyed books by Richard Osman, Deanna Raybourn, and Anthony Horowitz. It takes place on a literary-themed cruise that is a writing workshop for women only. Our amateur detective here is a mystery author who is teaching a class on mystery writing. So, once there is a murder (and then a few more) she springs into action to solve it. I could not put this down, thanks to the fast paced plot, smart and funny tone, and terrific characters. I had enjoyed Kemper Donovan's first book, and this one was a little different -- more a traditional "locked room" type of mystery.

Our nameless ghostwriter and mystery author is back again, this time on an (almost) all-ladies' writers' cruise organized by the ghostwriter's college friend and successful author, Payton Garrett. When an attendee dies and several others become ill from what seems like a poisoning, the ghostwriter and the ship's doctor become determined to find the killer.

This book is a fun, twisty romp that's peppered with references to well-known mystery writers and books. The dialogue is snappy and the main character enjoyably snarky [example: " lobsters, crabs, squids, and crayfish (aka crawdads, just please God don't let them sing)"]. The cruise ship setting makes it feel like a large-scale locked-room mystery, and the pace is brisk without being frantic. I liked this second book from Donovan even better than the first and hope to see the ghostwriter in future titles. Recommended for readers who like Agatha Christie, Anthony Horowitz, and Richard Osman.

This book was an absolute delight. The voice is great the characters are great and fun and the plot is really well done. An all around excellent book. Can’t wait for more from this author.