Summary
Savannah, Dirk and the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency are hired by a famous mystery author. Natasha Van Cleef has been receiving threatening notes. She’s about to do a promotional cruise to Alaska. She wants Savannah and her team to protect her and her entourage on the cruise. The whole team is thrilled to enjoy an Alaskan cruise. Savannah’s Granny and Dirk’s parents even join them for the experience.
Once on the ship, though, Natasha is resistant to Savannah’s presence. She refuses to keep protection around her at dinner and pushes the team to leave her alone for most of the next day so she can enjoy being with her husband and a long massage.
But when Savannah and Dirk arrive to find Natasha and her husband missing and another threatening note, it seems the author needed Midnight Magnolia Detective Agency’s protection more than she thought.
Review
This is the 22nd book in this series that I have enjoyed for ages. They can be enjoyed out of order – the mysteries easily stand alone. But part of the fun of the series for me is the team, and they have grown and changed over the years. It is fun to experience that evolution in series order.
Savannah and Dirk are great characters – smart and good at their jobs. They make an interesting couple. There’s plenty of banter as she’s a Southern belle and he’s a little more rough around the edges. I love Savannah’s family (at least the ones in this book) and the larger role her granny and brother have had in recent books.
The mystery was good. I didn’t get a great feel for the author and her entourage as they weren’t around much in the story. I didn’t have a strong feeling for them – either worry over what happened or a good sense of the suspects. But I enjoyed the twisty investigation and the overall solution in the end.