Customer Reviews

High Seas Murder: A Lindy Haggerty Mystery (Linda Haggerty Mysteries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The theatrical setting and back stage drama are the things which drew me to this series. This, the second book in the Lindy Haggerty Mystery series, certainly does not disappoint. Ms Freydont's characters are three dimensional and colorfully drawn. Here she combines, classical dancers, opera singers, cabaret performers and a rock star to achieve a fascinating group of victims and suspects. The plot has many twists and turns. The cruise ship is surrounded by a school of red herring. She mixes information about the art form skillfully with murder and soap opera. I highly recommend this book to mystery and theater lovers alike.

This is quite a good follow up mystery. The Jeremy Ashe Dance Company have agreed to do a working tour abroad a luxury cruise bound for the Carribean. High wheeling music producer, Cameron Tyler, has come with the concept of putting together the "cultured" rich with a few stars from the world of opera and dance. Always on the look out for more money, Jeremy Ashe has agreed to commit his dance company to the cruise. Rehersal director, Lindy Haggerty, is not looking forward to this working tour as her memory of cruise ships are not of the best. And it isn't too long before she's proved right. First a poisonous music critic literally drops down dead at her feet; then the lecherous cabaret singer drowns under suspicious circumstances. And no one seems to want to discover what's going on! But when an innocent ship steward is accussed of theft and looks likely to be fitted up for murder, Lindy and company spring into action to clear his name.

As an avid mystery reader, I found this novel entertaining but a little disconcerting. Much of the book seemed to deal with Lindy's strange attraction for the rock star, David Beck; and whether he had a drug habit or not. The strange behaviour of those around her were sidelined until the last quarter of the book when the investigation into the murders took flight.

Also her obsession with her weight (size eight and not a six) was a little tiring. I know that this is important to dancers but when it was mentioned over and over again... I felt like screaming. But I still enjoyed the mystery.

Lindy Haggerty,the retired dancer just wants to have a diversion in her boring life as an empty nester. When she joins up with the Jeremy Ash troup again for a cruise gig, she becomes wrapped up in sleuthing about a few murders instead of dancing into paradise.

Shelley Fredont has done it again. The twists and turns of her characters behaviors have us wondering where we will end up next!

Sign me up for the next cruise with Lindy and her Gang!

She retired from her dancing career to spend more time with her children, but they are now adults living on their own. Linda Haggerty, tired of her husband's long work absences, returns to the life she once left by joining the New Jersey-based Jeremy Ash Dance Company. There she finds the camaraderie she has missed for years. When the company accepts a series of performances on a luxury ship sailing the Caribbean, Linda agrees to accompany them.

Powerful rock producer Cameron Tyler sponsors and pays for the cruise leaving the ship with only two hundred passengers. This makes for an easier time on the performers as they have fewer guests to mingle with than anticipated. However, the cruise into paradise turns into a vacation in hell as someone methodically murders two passengers and a member of the crew looks like he is going to be falsely charged with the crimes. Linda's maternal instincts kick in as she sets out to prove the crewmember is innocent.

Minus the homicides, cruise ships are an experience that those readers who have not tried will want to do so because of the delightful description in HIGH SEAS MURDER. The vast cast appears genuine and the key players multi-dimensional while the secondary characters provide the leagues of depth to this ocean adventure. The who-done-it is entertaining because Shelley Freydont takes her audience on a sea cruise while her amateur sleuth story line sails with humor and action.

Harriet Klausner

This latest adventure of Lindy's was just as interesting as the first. I was once again immersed in her story, trying to figure out what the solution could possibly be. This book, as well as the last, held my attention and was a pleasure to read. It is always nice to find a book that is hard to put down until the end. Thank you Shelley for the great entertainment.

This is a fine author and an easy to read mystery. The story line is good and entertaining

Shelley Freydont does it again with her second installment of her Lindy Haggerty series - High Seas Murder. The Jeremy Ash Dance Company (including Rebo!) is hired along with other arts and entertainment troupes to entertain a group of rich art supporters for a week long New Years bash on a supersized luxury yacht. Of course, what would be a cruise without a couple murders, one by the stairs and the other in a pool? Things get crazy and comical when Lindy, not learning from her last experience, takes it upon herself to solve the murders, but this time, Biddy, Jeremy Ash, Peter, and the entire dance crew will not let her go about it alone.

Yes, the plot is silly and outlandish. Yes, the humor is on the cheesy side. But, they don't call it a "cozy mystery" for nothing. Not all books are meant to be serious or crafty. High Seas Murder is entertaining, fun, well-written, and a great read for readers who are in dire need to turn off the dreary news and relax with a cup of tea and a good book. This particular reader can't wait to read the third installment!

The real mystery to me is why this book has gotten good reviews. I would have given this book 1 star, but I reserve that honor for books which really deserve no stars.

Lindy is a staff member at a privately-funded dance troupe which has been offered the job of dancing on a small cruise ship over the Christmas holidays. Lindy declines because spending the holidays with her family is important to her. Alas, she comes to the sad conclusion that her family could care less about it because although her son is home from college he spends no time with her, her daughter chooses to stay in Europe at school rather than coming home, and her husband chooses to work in Paris over the holidays.

She decides to go on the cruise and mayhem ensues. A music critic with plenty of enemies falls to his death at her feet. A bellicose and drunken cruise singer with a history of wandering eye, but whose act relies on the far-superior talents of his wife, drowns in a pool on deck. Meanwhile, a dance troupe member appears to be having problems of her own with her daughter (that subplot was so obvious they might have highlighted it in neon), shipboard staff are accused of thievery, her friend appears to be embarking on an affair with a newly-outed-as-heterosexual colleague, and a rock star on vacation is romantically interested in Lindy while exhibiting signs of what Lindy feels are drug use. Oh, yeah, and then there's a former flame of hers back home whom she calls upon for help in solving the mystery of what happened to the first dead body. By the time this overly-lengthy book was done, I felt like I'd spent a week becalmed on the high seas with this crew.

There were so many problems with this thin story stretched out over far too many pages that I actually made a list:
1. The murderer was obvious almost immediately
2. The 'main' characters were thinly drawn or laughable caricatures of types
3. There were far too many secondary/tertiary players
4. Lindy's apparent hotness in attracting multiple love interests is never really made obvious to the reader and so seems almost laughable, especially in regards to a rock star on board.
5. Her immediate assumption that one of those love interests was a drug user rather than suffering from an illness requiring medication was ridiculous and offputting. It also made her appear stupid enough that I wondered about her abilities to solve the murder. And in reality, she didn't solve the murder -- the murderer happened to confess in her presence.
6. The lectures about opera and dancing felt like...lectures.
7. Finally, the subplot involving her family's apathy about her existence was just completely unnecessary. And her drama over not receiving a New Year's gift was perplexing -- who exchanges gifts on New Year's?

This was the first book I've read in this series and I plan to read many more.

Lindy Graham-Haggerty is the rehearsal director for the Jeremy Ash Dance Company. The company is hired to perform on a small cruise over New Year's being offered by Cameron Tyler. At first Lindy declines attending because she doesn't want to be away from her husband Glen over New Year's. Plus their son Cliff would be home from the holidays and even though he would spend most of the time with his friends, she wanted to be home to see him as much as possible.

Then Glen gets sent to Paris to work over the holidays and Cliff heads on a ski trip with friends. So, Lindy agrees to go.

She shares a cabin with Biddy McFee, the company's business manager. David Beck, rock star, is their neighbor across the hall.

Suzette Howard is in charge of the Stars of the Metropolitan Opera who will also be performing. Her daughter Dede is traveling with her.

Things start happening when they arrive. When Suzette sees Danny Ross and Adelaide Kyle, the married cabaret act, arrive with their son Richard, she freezes in place. Lindy can't figure out what that was about. Then the first night out, Suzette says Danny Ross was murdered and pushed down the stairs. Nobody is at the bottom of the stairs, and Danny Ross is asleep in bed. Lindy isn't sure what to think..

David Beck is another strange person. He appears to have multiple personalities -- man, child, and rock star.

Then there is a dead body at the bottom of the stairs. But, Cameron Tyler insists on telling everyone (even Lindy) that he just had a concusion and was flown to a nearby hospital. Lindy knows this can't be true; she saw him -- his neck was obviously broken.

More things continue to happen. There's another murder. Lindy befriends David and they begin to try to sort out what is happening.

I highly recommend this book. The dance company characters are just that, characters and Ms. Freydont has done a great job in building each one. They work well together, too.

The cruise as the setting is terrific as well. All the players are confined to a ship. Makes it a little easier to investigate.

Shelley Freydont draws from a rich history of "road" stories to weave a mystery yarn that not only takes the reader on a luxury cruise but also allows us civilians a peek behind the show business curtain. Her intellegent sense of humor and cache of details kept me turning pages trying to figure out who was who? I look forward to learning more about the world of dance and find the organizational insight quite helpful when trying to manage day to day.