Jane Heller Princess Charming

Princess Charming

Jane Heller

Kensington, Aug 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 0758211694

The three forty-something friends with no men in their lives, Elaine Zimmerman, Pat Kovecky and Jackie Gault, have gone on several vacations together. Pat and Jackie decide that their trip ought to be a Caribbean cruise on The Princess Charming. Reluctantly the third amigo agrees though the sailing makes her nervous.

The trek starts off poorly for Elaine when she loses her luggage; she replaces her missing clothing by buying from the boutique sequined gowns that she must wear at all times. Elaine panics when she overhears someone planning to murder one of her buddies. She wonders which of the people at their table the killer is. She makes inquires hoping that is not Sam Peck, who she likes, but how could it be the sweet elderly couple or the stockbroker and his wife too busy shopping and spending money.

Though the three female buddies are overly stereotyped, readers will enjoy this fine amateur sleuth romance due ironically because of the likable trio. Elaine is the prime star cruising for clues on who and why someone she dines with wants to kill one of her friends even as she wonders if a major suspect is at long last the love she has waited for over four decades to meet. Jane Heller writes a lighthearted romantic cruise mystery that is fun to read.

Harriet Klausner