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A review by lisab1991
Death by Water by Kerry Greenwood
3.0
“‘Oh, Miss,’ wailed Dot. ‘Can’t we go anywhere without a murder?’
‘It does seem unfair, Dot. This, however, was no doing of mine. I did not expect it either.’”
Death by water - a title which indicates a certain death which actually takes place at 76 % and is consequently solved at 89 %. Phryne and Dot embark the SS Hinemoa by request of P&O to investigate jewel thefts that took place during previous journeys. Phryne lays the trap and meets several interesting fellow passengers on board, which often made it a challenge to keep track of who was who. For Phryne, it gets even more serious when Dot is found unconscious after being drugged and Phryne nearly drowns by foul play.
I’ve never been on a cruise ship before so I can’t tell if Ms. Greenwood’s descriptions on the ship are accurate. Thus I’d be the last person to determine if her pre-emptive apology for lack of research is justified. I’m not so sure about the Maori cultural references though and if the relations with the upper class passengers were accurate given it’s 1928 after all. I leave that to the more educated reviewers and readers.
All in all, it was a rather nice detective story, even though most of the trusted main cast of characters was missing for 95 % of the book (but some of them were mentioned). I had my suspicions on both the (circumstances surrounding the) murder and the thefts; they proved to be right. I chuckled at the thought that it would be very unlikely for science to ever progress so far that colour films would be invented. If only they knew! And I wonder how ✨Jack✨ (see, I can still squeeze in a reference to my favourite Melbourne DI!) reacted to the gift Phryne got him and if we will ever find out if he was able to grow that pohutukawe tree from those seeds packets.
The shipwreck references (mainly Titanic) were chilling, especially those at the end of each chapter.
‘It does seem unfair, Dot. This, however, was no doing of mine. I did not expect it either.’”
Death by water - a title which indicates a certain death which actually takes place at 76 % and is consequently solved at 89 %. Phryne and Dot embark the SS Hinemoa by request of P&O to investigate jewel thefts that took place during previous journeys. Phryne lays the trap and meets several interesting fellow passengers on board, which often made it a challenge to keep track of who was who. For Phryne, it gets even more serious when Dot is found unconscious after being drugged and Phryne nearly drowns by foul play.
I’ve never been on a cruise ship before so I can’t tell if Ms. Greenwood’s descriptions on the ship are accurate. Thus I’d be the last person to determine if her pre-emptive apology for lack of research is justified. I’m not so sure about the Maori cultural references though and if the relations with the upper class passengers were accurate given it’s 1928 after all. I leave that to the more educated reviewers and readers.
All in all, it was a rather nice detective story, even though most of the trusted main cast of characters was missing for 95 % of the book (but some of them were mentioned). I had my suspicions on both the (circumstances surrounding the) murder and the thefts; they proved to be right. I chuckled at the thought that it would be very unlikely for science to ever progress so far that colour films would be invented. If only they knew! And I wonder how ✨Jack✨ (see, I can still squeeze in a reference to my favourite Melbourne DI!) reacted to the gift Phryne got him and if we will ever find out if he was able to grow that pohutukawe tree from those seeds packets.
The shipwreck references (mainly Titanic) were chilling, especially those at the end of each chapter.