“Set Sail for Murder”   by Carolyn Hart

         Review #173

         A Henrie O  Collins Mystery

Retired news journalist, Henrie O Collins sails on a two-week Baltic cruise to help out an old friend and former flame, James Lennox.   Jimmy has married the dashing documentary filmmaker, Sophia Montgomery, and he is afraid that one of Sophia's grown stepchildren, (from a previous marriage), is trying to kill her.

It turns out that Sophia's stepkids have plenty of reasons to hate her, not the least of which is she stands in the way of their inheritance.  The inheritance has been in a fund managed by Sophia for several years and the children have been receiving funds at set intervals. The time has come, however, for Sophia to decide if they are ready to take over the management of their own funds or if they will have to wait another 10 years to do so.

The whole family is required to go on the cruise, during which time, Sophia will announce her decision regarding the inheritance.  When Jimmy begs Henrie O to accompany his family on the cruise and get to the bottom of the suspicious accidents that keep befalling Sophia, she reluctantly agrees. When Sophia disappears from the ship in the middle of the ocean, Henrie O sets out to discover who made that happen!

Framed by descriptions of the lovely Baltic ports of call, Hart's seventh in the Henrie O series combines engaging subordinate characters and surprising plot twists with the charms of Henrie O herself, who grapples with her past feelings for James while trying to solve the case. 

As usual, I am a great fan of Carolyn Hart’s mysteries!