Wynter J.'s Reviews > The Moonlit Murders

*** 3.5 Stars ***

This is book 3 in the ‘Fen Curche Mystery’ series and can be read as a standalone adventure.

Brief Synopsis: WWII has ended. Fenella (“Fen”) Churche and her friend James Lancaster are leaving France, headed to America by steamship. During the journey, high-dollar jewelry is stolen and a couple of murders take place. The ship isn’t staffed for a formal investigation, so Fen and James use their sleuth skills and investigate. Is more than one suspect involved, or are all of these crimes linked? We follow Fen and James as they work against time to bring justice to the victims.

“I think it may be one of those puzzles that we have to approach like a crossword. There will be clues around as to who did it, and some of those clues might be very cryptic indeed.”

Thoughts: This book definitely had an Agatha Christie mystery quality to it. The characters were diverse and well developed. In addition, the scenery was vividly described. There were plenty of suspects to sort through.

Though this is a “race against time” plot, I didn’t feel the suspense that this type of storyline normally presents. Especially when you layer in that a murderer must be on board with you. That said, it’s still a cozy, historical mystery with clues being revealed at good intervals. The mysteries themselves were tough to solve which helped to keep me engaged.

Thank you Fliss Chester, Bookouture, and NetGalley for a copy of this book. It was fun mystery, that I did not figure out until final confessions were made.