Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow returns in Donna Andrews 25th bird-themed mystery, Terns of Endearment. This time Meg and her amazingly frustrating/helpful family are taking a cruise to Bermuda. Meg's grandfather has been hired to give lectures on the cruise as part of the entertainment and he takes along a good chunk of the family with him. The trip quickly heads south as the ship breaks down in the middle of the ocean and one passenger jumps overboard. Whether the woman jumped by herself or was helped overboard is the question.

The captain decides not to investigate which is all the opening Meg and her nosy family need to conduct their own investigation. The woman was a much-disliked romance author, especially by a small group of fellow romance authors who are on the cruise to honor a dead colleague.

The crew is surprisingly unhelpful and the captain is uncommunicative about what exactly is wrong with the ship and when they might expect to reach their destination. Meg’s family, as well as some of her fellow passengers, pitch in to assist Meg both with her investigation as well as helping out as conditions on the ship steadily worsen. Meg keeps digging, alternatively ruffling and smoothing feathers along the way until ultimately the truth is revealed.

These books are so much fun it's almost hard to describe. The book moves along at a steady clip as Andrews is one of the best in the business at making the reader need to read just one more chapter. Meg and her family are both delightful and eccentric which keeps the humor going throughout the book even amidst a murderer or two. The humor and suspense are perfectly balanced. It's fun to see Meg out of her home element of Caerphilly from time to time and a cruise ship is a great setting. Meg's supremely skilled family means that there's always someone around who has just the skill needed the solve the next step in the puzzle without it feeling contrived.

I'm amazed at how easy it is to slip into one of Donna Andrews novels and let the whole world disappear. Terns of Endearment is another outstanding addition to the series. Highly recommended both to fans of the series as well as to new readers.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

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