WITH A TWIST

Murder and mayhem await an amateur sleuth aboard a luxurious Mediterranean cruise ship in Stoler’s mystery novel.

Jude Dillane is recovering from her last adventure, in which she took the life of a serial killer. The proprietor of The Corner Lounge, a bar and grill on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Jude is preparing for the weekend crowd when her boyfriend, accountant Eric Ramirez, walks in with a surprise offering. His wealthy client Milt Rogovich has gifted them a spectacular 10-day vacation on the Wanderlust Cruise Line’s newest elite small-ship wonder, the Allure. Off to London they go to begin a luxury vacation. To her surprise and delight, Jude spots Monica Delmar, her friend from the days when they both attended Cornell University’s hotel school; Monica is now the Allure’s director of passenger events. She shows Jude and Eric to their sumptuous cabin, complete with a separate sitting room and an invitation to join her at the captain’s table for the cruise’s first-night dinner. But an ominous cloud hangs over this seagoing paradise: In the middle of the night, Monica tearfully appears at the couple’s cabin door, reporting that she has just discovered the twisted, lifeless body of the assistant purser, Jamie McFarland, on the floor of a passageway. And so, the game’s afoot in this fourth volume of the author’s Murder on the Rocks mystery series. Jude is a jaunty, irrepressible narrator; in between snooping and ferreting out clues, she shares detailed descriptions of the Allure’s lavish decor and tempting gourmet meals and highlights of her tour of Barcelona, their first port of call. Despite the ingratiatingly upbeat tone, buoyed by light banter, Stoler builds tension with increasing danger, a plethora of likely suspects, and direct threats to Jude’s life. There’s a very creepy scene follows an unaccompanied Jude through the ancient underground tunnels of Rome’s Colosseum, “their stone walls stained and reeking of dampness,” and although there is no big concluding shocker, there are some clever and surprising twists.

A fun escapist beach read best enjoyed with a frosty piña colada.