There are a number of TV shows from the biggest cruise ship built, to the most expensive cruise ship ever built, to watching the daily events as lost bags are found and staff deal with customer demands. However, none of them is a holiday adventure. None of them mimics going away and being surprised.
The feel of being there, of seeing the ship and seeing the story unfold before you both happen in a cruise novel, and in the series of Cruise Ship Crime Detectives there are now six. The first, Cruise Ship Heist, sees a special forces war veteran go to a ship to commentate on the Panama Canal crossing, and be at the memorial service. He does not expect to be involved in a major crime with sums of money and people none of us expects to find on any cruise ship. The fast action story throws together a number of characters who in the second book, Cruise Ship Serial KIller, start a detective agency and find themselves being dropped way out into the Pacific to board a ship. The third book in the series is a simple problem; one of human trafficking and slave labour. A series of ships are used for the trade and the detectives solve the crime. Cruise Ship Art theft comes in as the fourth book when the younger members of the CSCI group that has expanded to include others, find themselves being used. Used is a word that many have to interpret, and many answers are available. The pandemic hits and cruising stops, and the fifth book is less of a direct action-adventure as a woman who is mentally ill sees that the world understands her lockdown. No one understands her taking a cruise and trying to come out of that state. It is a complex book of crime and mental illness.
Now released is the sixth book in the series. Blood Diamonds, the latest cruise thriller is definitely a page-turning action thriller. Like all of the books it can be read as a stand-alone novel, but the character's development is best appreciated when the books are read in order. However, if you want just one great cruise adventure, then it is Blood Diamonds. It is available now in the Amazon Books section as a hardback large print, paperback, or Kindle. The Audiobook is going through the system.
The longest chapter in Blood Diamonds is the first one, read here by the writer, Stuart St Paul. It sets up the story of the call the agency gets from the cruise operator because there is a problem on one of their ships. Like most cruise operators they have more than one ship, and like some their ships are identical. There is also a theme, and in this case, it is nymphs and mermaids; the ship is called MS Aerwyna. The name means friend of the sea and is pronounced Aer-wy-na. She is the daughter of the Greek goddess Doris, and Greek god Nereus who are said to have 50 daughters. The number associated with the mermaid Aerwyna is 6, but she is the prime focus of this investigation when the diamond safe on the ship is opened and almost totally cleaned out.
CSCI is an agency, about four blocks back from Dodge Island, the cruise terminal in Miami. Another four or so blocks away is the i95 highway, and Overtown. The i95 is south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 in Miami, Florida to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Overtown is said to be the worst project and slum area in the USA. The contrast in wealth could hardly be greater. On the streets, someone might be killed when a ten dollar drug deal goes bad, but on the ships, it would take a diamond heist for murder to be worth the risk. The call to the crime might seem ordinary, but the agents of the agency all know this could be another kill or be kill mission. The books are available on Amazon, hardback in large print, paperback and Kindle. The Audiobook is going through the process and will be released any day. All CSCI books are based around the cruise industry, and some follow a cruise route. Cruisers will be able to imaging most of the backdrop through the below-decks and the inner workings of the crew and cruise marketing will be new to them. The adventures all read like TV shows or movies, which they no doubt will all become eventually. Author Stuart St Paul comes from 50 years in the movie industry and is an award-winning writer and director. Find out more about the series and the author here on the CSCI series Amazon page. Or the author's page.
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