My Body Lies over the Ocean (Sarah Deane Mysteries)

Rating:
Summary: Not up to series' standards
Review: I like this series and have read all the previous installments. This one has a promising setting--a luxurious ocean liner on her maiden voyage--but I agree with others that the motivation for the crimes is not very credible. It has become fashionable to bash the blockbuster movie Titanic, and the author does so here, via her characters. I found that attitude disingenuous, in that Borthwick is obviously cashing in on the interest in the disaster stirred by the movie. Style and characters remain engaging, but the plot in this one is definitely lacking.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable book marred by mistakes
Review: Most series that survive into a ninth volume would appear to support some kind of loyal following. This particular mystery, being my first attempt at the books featuring Sarah Deane by J.S. Borthwick, would not be likely to cause me to become a staunch fan.

The setting would seem to be fun and inviting. Sarah, husband Alex and her crotchety aunt, Julia, are returning from Europe by ocean liner. Multiple attempts at thinning out the ship board population (some attempts successful and others less so) cause the Deane party to become immersed in shipboard friendships while unraveling the puzzle. Various aspects of the Titanic (cinematic and otherwise) are built into the mystery but the author captures the authentic flavor of traveling by "floating hotel", Harrods and all. The new acquaintances who become part of Sarah's and Alex's circle are distinctive enough in their portrayal but rather lacking in serious motivation for murder -- at least a motivation that I could take seriously.

An innocuous piece of fluff but not exactly an absorbing one.

Rating:
Summary: Weak Motive Behind This Crime
Review: Most series that survive into a ninth volume would appear to support some kind of loyal following. This particular mystery, being my first attempt at the books featuring Sarah Deane by J.S. Borthwick, would not be likely to cause me to become a staunch fan.

The setting would seem to be fun and inviting. Sarah, husband Alex and her crotchety aunt, Julia, are returning from Europe by ocean liner. Multiple attempts at thinning out the ship board population (some attempts successful and others less so) cause the Deane party to become immersed in shipboard friendships while unraveling the puzzle. Various aspects of the Titanic (cinematic and otherwise) are built into the mystery but the author captures the authentic flavor of traveling by "floating hotel", Harrods and all. The new acquaintances who become part of Sarah's and Alex's circle are distinctive enough in their portrayal but rather lacking in serious motivation for murder -- at least a motivation that I could take seriously.

An innocuous piece of fluff but not exactly an absorbing one.

Rating:
Summary: A good idea, poorly executed
Review: The setting for this book, a luxury cruise ship, offers an excellent setting for this mystery. The author's descriptions of the ship evoke romantic images and make for enjoyable reading. Unfortunately, this is the only aspect of the book I enjoyed. The plot is thin, the rationale for the crimes is simplistic and trite, and the denoument is melodramatic and unrealistic. I wanted to like this book, but I'm afraid it's a case where the blurb on the back raised my expectations which the words between the covers could not fulfill. In the end it was formulaic, two-dimensional, didactic, and not very engaging. I hope to find another book with a similar setting that offers better substance.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable book marred by mistakes
Review: This most recent paperback adventure for Sarah, Alex and Julia was enjoyable. I liked the interplay among the chief characters and the picture of life on a cruise. I have to say, though, that the vast majority of the entertainments (excluding creeping around spying on crew and/or fellow passengers) sound absolutely terrible, and any plans I may have had for a cruise have been put on hold. I hope that the author was being facetious.

I agree with other reviewers that the plot was weak, and the motivations more so. Everything was very convenient, and the interaction among the various police departments of different countries struck me as wildly improbable.

My major complaint with the book ties in with the substandard copy editing job it received. While the grammar and spelling were largely fine, the punctuation was not, and a tendency to forget to insert quotation marks at the end of a character's remarks was particularly distracting. There were also some factual errors that the characters would not have made (one example is that a fan of Brother Cadfael notes that those books took place during the thirteenth century; the books are largely set during the war between Stephen and Maude, which took place in the twelfth, not the thirteenth, century). Another example is that the piano on board is referred to as a Beckstein; the correct spelling is, I believe, Bechstein. But these are minor matters; the quotation mark problem was not. I hope corrections can be made for subsequent printings. St. Martin's Press is a wonderful press responsible for most of my mystery reading; typographical errors should not interfere with its image.