Reader book reviews of Murder Aboard the Queen Elizabeth II
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Bon Voyage!
You are about to set sail on quite an adventure if you read Murder Aboard the Queen Elizabeth II.
By the time the characters board the cruise liner, you feel like you know them pretty well but then you learn so much more about them during their cruise. And they don't all play nice!
I'm happy to report that I didn't figure out this whodunnit on my own as the suspense just kept building. Give this book a read, it's perfect for a suspenseful, entertaining evening or two.
I also loved the quality of the book itself. The pages were a nice thickness, white, and the print was a nice contrast so my eyes didn't tire easily. Well done, Mr. Murray!
It's not often you find an author who can transport you into a world outside of your own.
Stephen Murray's Murder Aboard The Queen Elizabeth II was a fun engaging book that kept me guessing right up until the end!
Murray paints a realistic world aboard the QE2 with characters who are not only authentic but realistic. Everyone should pick up a copy of this book. You wont be disappointed in the writing and storytelling.
5 Stars!!!!
Characters are totally realistic not only in appearance but in respect to their emotional reactions to ever-changing events. I started reading and could not put it down. It kept me up way past bedtime. Grab a copy and you'll find it absorbing and mystifying until the very end.
Stephen Murray's Murder Aboard The Queen Elizabeth ll piqued my curiosity. I found the murder novel extremely interesting. A great book to read on a cruise ship! I really enjoyed the mystery of the book. I love the couples story lines throughout. Finding out who the murderer was at the end was a surprise!
I bought this wonderfully engaging mystery at a bookstore signing in Las Vegas, Stephen Murray's home for many years, after his UK and remarkable African upbringing. Murray eventually landed in Los Angeles, then in Las Vegas with his software company. I'd met Stephen while I was doing a fund-raiser at the same bookstore and found him wonderfully engaging -- as is his Murder Aboard the Queen Elizabeth II mystery. It's beautifully structured, suspenseful, very well written, and, as E. M. Forster suggests, has the wonderful virtue of entrancing the reader with "what comes next" -- a paraphrase, of course, keeping the reader turning those pages with great interest. QE II has the additional virtue of providing very well placed "clues" or fore-shadowings, just enough to engage the reader with Stephen's on-board private investigator in his attempts to solve the murder. Murray's P.I., like the other characters in his fascinating cast, is well wrought, and adds to the great "variety of the entertainment" (apologies to Bertolt Brecht), trying to sort out the multitude of possible motives among the family and friends who have joined the "happy couple" voyaging from London to New York to celebrate their wedding anniversary. In sum, I thought Murder Aboard the Queen Elizabeth II one of the most enjoyable reads in this genre I've encountered in a long while. Here's to Stephen's next one, Discreetly Yours, a crime novel, set in Las Vegas this time, not quite so confined a venue as that most beautiful of ships.
Excellent describes Stephen's book in its entirety. Descriptions of the characters, their possible motives and the scenes jump off the page in believable and imaginative ways. This is not the ordinary who-done-it story because the murder happens well into the book giving you a chance to get to know everyone involved. It's a welcome change and even Agatha Christie would be impressed. This is definitely a five-star must-read!
Stephen Murray's novel about a society California music producer is right on topic! Very well done. I loved the setting being aboard an ocean liner. The plot moves along quickly. Mrs. Sinclair was my favorite character, a real class act.of a lady whose need to rely on ceremony serves her and the story well. The ending was a complete surprise. A lovely read that moves right along. This story is delightful!
Stephen Murray’s Murder Aboard the Queen Elizabeth II was an exciting murder mystery. There were twists and turns during the whole thing. While the beginning of the story was a little slow, I am glad that I kept reading. I was pulled in and wanted to know, first who was murdered followed by who did it and why.
Moving past the very beginning, this murder mystery has it all. The main couple are the Sinclair’s. I loved to get to know them, but was not impressed with the Mr. Sinclair and his choices of cheating when Mrs. Sinclair decides she wants to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary aboard the QEII.
Now, to add to the twists and turns, Mrs. Sinclair wants to invite their friends, some of who are business associates with Mr. Sinclair, as well as their son, his flimsy girlfriend and their estranged daughter and her husband. You can’t have drama without a fun group of people!
Between everyone who is invited, and those who are not, we get to build the suspense before the actual murder happens. We get clues, but not all of them are helpful. Some of these clues are just there to confuse us.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the guessing game of who would be murdered, how and why. When it happened, I was surprised, but the murderer was a shock I did not see coming. If you are into murder mystery, this is a book you will want to read!
Author Stephen Murray allowed me to set sail with his glamorous characters, Sylvia and Brian Sinclair, as they embarked on an anniversary cruise aboard the luxurious QE II. What a glorious trip! Although there are hints of family discord early on I was not prepared for the depth of conflict in this privileged family and level of betrayal among the couple's seemingly good friends. The author skillfully illuminates each character all the while weaving them into a messy, murderous web. Private eye Richard Manning gives nothing away as he closes in on the killer. Thoroughly enjoyed author Murray's tale of privilege, flawed characters and the murder mystery he leaves the reader to solve alongside private eye Manning. Wonderful reading from start to finish.
Murder aboard the Queen Elizabeth II by Stephen Murray is a stylish and entertaining who-done-it with well-developed characters who imbue the mystery with greater resonance. The murder doesn’t occur until halfway through the novel, enough time for Murray to establish the dynamics among competing characters and their motivations.
Even before the actual murder, many sly hints and clues are dangled with an assortment of tawdry relationships and a bagful of secrets that emerge from Alicia, Todd, Laura, Denise, and just about every member of the party. The planner of the anniversary cruise, Sylvia, serves as the heart of the novel; her aversion to confrontation helps advance the numerous plot threads. By the time the victim is dead, the reader has so many suspects established in his mind, that he is more than ready for the investigation that follows.
And that investigation, led by retired private eye Richard Manning with the ship’s captain serving as a congenial sidekick, continues to unearth further sniping and suspicious behavior from the suspects. Manning’s probing questions and intuitive leaps in interrogation heighten the suspense, and Murray’s shifts in perspective back to the suspects allow for the possibilities for who might be involved in the murder to continually expand.
Murder aboard the Queen Elizabeth II offers so many nice twists – almost every character seems to be working an angle – that the revelation of the murderer is particularly satisfying. Murray has delivered to the reader a very pleasurable and diverting novel.