Book 11, 2021

Title Wave by Lorna Barrett

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Since I took a (blowing) snow day, I finished reading Title Wave this morning. It's the 10th book in Lorna Barrett's "Booktown" mystery series. Main character is Tricia Miles, who owns a mystery bookstore called 'Haven't Got a Clue'.

With her bookstore closed for renovations after a fire, Tricia lets her sister, Angelica, talk her into booking a mystery lovers' cruise, along with several of their friends and acquaintances from Stoneham, NH. Also on board the Celtic Lady are many authors, editors, and publishers. Tricia is hoping to get some serious R&R&R in (that third R is for reading!). Unfortunately, not all is sunshine on the high seas. Someone has been sending her anonymous gifts, and one of the best-known authors, EM Barstow, turns out to be a snotty bitch. When Tricia finds EM hanging in the bathroom of her stateroom, the woman's death is chalked up to suicide. Tricia can't help but think it was murder, and she ought to know. She's called the 'village jinx' in Stoneham for her misfortune in getting mixed up in many previous murders. After the ship's head of security seems disinclined to investigate further, Tricia takes it upon herself to ask questions and search for answers. What she learns may get her killed.

I didn't care for this story. At all. I did not find Tricia to be a likable character. Maybe, had I been reading this series from the beginning, I would have felt differently, but I simply had no connection to her. I was not on board (pardon the pun) with why she was the one to discover EM. Tricia was returning to her own stateroom and saw that the door of another room was ajar and decided to simply wander in? That makes no sense. If it was the room of someone you knew, you could be forgiven for being concerned, but there's a huge difference between being a Concerned Connie and a Nosy Nelly. Other things that bothered me:
( Spoilers, ahoy! )

Favorite lines:
♦ "Obviously, you aren't into science-fiction and other fandoms and can't know the joy of belonging to a group of like-minded thinkers."
♦ "That's the problem with taking a trip like this. We have to leave our beloved fur-babies at home."
♦ "I was just lying there...wondering if you'd been murdered."

To sum it up, characters didn't resonate, the plot didn't make much sense, there was precious little humor involved, and I found the entire story quite boring, frankly. I won't be reading any more in this series. Two stars.