Set sail for murder /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

When retired newspaper reporter Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, Henrie O to her friends, receives a call for help, she discovers that love once kindled never burns to ashes. Although she refused Jimmy Lennox's marriage proposal, there is still a special place for him in her heart. She wished him well when he found happiness with Sophia Montgomery, world-famous documentary filmmaker and stepmother to the now grown heirs of a great fortune. Sophia is at odds with the heirs, and Jimmy fears for her safety. He asks Henrie O to come along with the family on a Baltic cruise. Henrie O can't turn down her old friend, though old passions are stirred when he calls.

On the voyage she soon realizes this dysfunctional family is plunging toward destruction and one of the travelers has murder in mind. As the ports of call pass--Copenhagen, Gdynia, Tallinn, St. Petersburg--death inexorably approaches. Henrie O works desperately to save Jimmy and to bring hope to lives blighted by anger, resentment, and heartbreak.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Retired newspaper reporter Henrietto O'Dwyer sets sail to aid an ex-flame on a murderous Baltic cruise in the seventh of the series by the "Death on Demand" author. Hart lives in Oklahoma City. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In the long-awaited seventh installment of Hart's popular series starring feisty retired journalist Henrie O (after 2001's Resort to Murder), Henrie O's erstwhile lover, Jimmy, has married another woman, the dashing Sophia Montgomery, and he's afraid that one of Sophia's stepchildren from a previous marriage is trying to kill her. When Jimmy begs Henrie O to accompany his family on a cruise and get to the bottom of the suspicious accidents that keep befalling Sophia, she reluctantly agrees. It turns out that Sophia's stepkids have plenty of reasons to hate her, not least that she stands in the way of their inheritance. The scheming stepkids are predictable and two-dimensional, but Henrie O remains a complex character, and her struggles to keep her feelings for Jimmy platonic are every bit as engaging as the putative mystery. Henrie O's fans, and devotees of Hart's lighter Death on Demand series, will enjoy this quick read. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Retired newswoman Henrie O Collins sails on a two-week Baltic cruise to help out an old friend and former boyfriend, James Lennox, who is concerned that someone is trying to kill his wife, documentary filmmaker Sophia Montgomery. James believes that there have already been two attempts on Sophia's life, and he suspects that one of her second husband's children is out to kill her because she controls when they will receive their inheritance. The whole family is required to go on the cruise, during which Sophia will announce her decision regarding the inheritance. James wants Henrie O to help protect Sophia, who believes James' concerns are ridiculous, and to determine which child is the would-be killer. 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. --Sue O'Brien Copyright 2007 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Retired journalist Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins returns to sleuthing when an old flame asks for help protecting his wife. Although Henrie O (Resort to Murder, 2001, etc.) refused Jimmy Lennox's marriage proposal, there's still a special place for Jimmy in her heart--even now that he's married to photojournalist Sophia Montgomery. Several near-miss accidents make Jimmy suspect that one of Sophia's ex-husbands' children is trying to kill her. The children had been sent off to boarding school and raised by their aunt, Evelyn Riordan, who still lives on the estate. When self-involved Sophia arranges a Baltic cruise for the family in order to decide if the children are mature enough to receive the proceeds of their trust fund, Jimmy pays Henrie O's passage so that she can meet the suspects: Alex and his spendthrift wife, who want control of his fortune; Kent, whose girlfriend was so unsuitable that Sophia bribed her and Kent to split up; and Rosemary and her sister Val, who blame Sophia for the suicide of Val's twin sister. The family, shadowed by Henrie O, unhappily traverses ancient Baltic cities, sightseeing and shopping, until a push on a crowded Hermitage staircase finally convinces Sophia that there's danger. When Sophia is presumed lost at sea, an official investigation is launched, leaving Henrie O to pinpoint the murderer before her beloved Jimmy takes the fall. Henrie O's fans will find her long-anticipated return worth the wait. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Carolyn G. Hart is the author of eight award-winning Death on Demand mysteries and four Henrie O mysteries. The first writer to win all three major mystery awards--the Agatha, the Anthony, and the Macavity--for her novels, Hart is the former president of the organization Sisters in Crime.

Hart's first novel in her mystery series, entitled Death on Demand, focuses on prime murder suspect Annie Laurance Darling and her attempt to clear her tarnished name. Some of the other novels in the series include Something Wicked, winner of the Agatha Award in 1988 and the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original in 1989, Design for Murder, and Honeymoon with Murder, which won the Anthony Award in 1990. Letter From Home also won the Agatha Award for Best Novel in 2003.

Her latest novel is entitled, The Devereaux Legacy. (Bowker Author Biography)