A Curious Cargo of Bones

by Paul Davis MD

This tight, fast-paced mystery tests the heroes' sleuthing abilities to the limit and deftly balances comedy, romance and tragedy. A transatlantic luxury cruise ship provides the exclusive scene of the crime in Paul Davis's second mystery, starring Dr. Alan Mayhew, the ship's doctor and, by chance, murder mystery sleuth. When a code blue alert summons the doctor to an indoor badminton court, he rushes to the scene finding a man in his early 40's dead, apparently from a massive heart attack. A pair of women's pink lacey panties found nearby leaves the doc wondering if this could be a femme fatale Kiss of Death? The beautiful cruise ship director, Tiffany Sylvan, once again joins the doctor in investigating a probable murder as a surprising plot linked to the Vatican serves up multiple twists and turns -- including a ship wide infection, a bottle of poisoned wine, and a nurse with a mysterious rash. "Paul Davis seamlessly bridges a unique mystery with the humor and romance inherent in the workings of a cruise ship - a must read." -Ruben Adams, International Mystery Writers Reviews "Dr Davis nimbly blends sharp wit with unapologetic emotion and humor in an awesome murder mystery." -Peter Greene, The British Mystery Reader

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2010

Reviews

[Linda B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cruise Ship Crime, A Medical Murder Mystery is not your ordinary mystery. The story is sometimes funny, sometimes touching, but the story of Dr. Alan Mayhew is always interesting. Dr. Mayhew is a recently widowed retired cruise ship doctor. His children decide to give him a gift - a cruise - only this time as a passenger.

The mystery revolves around the death of a ship employee, Michael. Michael's friends and lovers, and a mysterious roll of film often bring up more questions than answers. The doctor and friends try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Most of the story however is the eye-opening romantic frolicking that goes on behind the scenes of a cruise ship.

The author, Dr. Paul Davis, is writing from experience as he was a ship doctor for 10 years. Reading the book was like sitting at a table with the ship's doctor and doing some "people watching". Young and old, male and female, romance is in the air on this cruise ship. My favorite story is one I had actually heard before - only in joke form. That's OK because it still fooled me until the end and I still laughed just as much.

[Casceil · Rating 2 out of 5]

One and a half stars, really. Parts of the book were fun. The main character is a ship's doctor on a cruise ship. He becomes involved in a mystery after a passenger dies on board. When we are reading that part of the story, the book is entertaining. But there are many long digressions that have nothing to do with the story, and some of those are long and boring.

[Skye Wentworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has all the elements you could wish for in a mystery -- adventure, love scenes, drama, suspense, murder -- plus it takes place on a cruise ship on the high seas. You don't want to put it down!

I love how it's written by an actual Cruise Ship doctor. He must have taken notes. :-)

[Peter Sklivas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun medical mystery on the high seas.