In 1894, Captain Jim Agnihotri and his wife Diana board a transatlantic cruise liner bound for England under the names Captain James O’Trey. The first night Jim is seasick but helped by an older foreign gentleman. The next day this same gentleman sends a note to Jim for an urgent meeting, only it is too late. The gentleman has been murdered.
Discovering that Jim is a detective, the captain begs him to investigate and find the culprit before they reach Liverpool. This gives Jim exactly six days to interview 1,000 people. While he would like his wife to stay out of it, Jim is occasionally bedeviled with his seasickness and has no choice but to rely on his wife. Can the two discover why this man was murdered, as well as who amongst the 1,000 souls would want him dead, in such a short time?
The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret by Nev March is the third in the series, but it is the first that I have read by this author. This is not a standalone novel as the beginning left me with many questions. Particularly about their backstory, because there were references to his military career that just seemed pasted in but had no real bearing on what was going on. Maybe if I read the previous books then the characters wouldn’t feel so flat. I just couldn’t believe the narrator/detective James O’Trey. The culprit was obvious by chapter 33, but he just seemed to want to ignore what he was being told. For me, it felt like the mystery was being dragged out rather unnecessarily.
Overall, I rate this novel 3 out of 5 stars.
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