Book 2 - Murder in the Lookout Lounge - Olivia Ocean Cruise Ship Mysteries (E-Book) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Murder at sea!

Olivia Ocean loves her new job aboard the Moonlit Majesty, especially when her boss, the photography manager, gives her more freedom with her artistic ability. However, while she’s tasked with capturing memorable moments from a family reunion aboard the ship, she witnesses a murder, turning her dream job into a nightmare!

Armed with her camera, the photos and tidbits she’s picked up from the reunion group, and her sleuthing kitten, Pickle, Olivia must assist the swoon-worthy security manager to figure out whodunit before he or she strikes again.

Cozy up on your deck chair and start reading!

This would be my fifth embarkation day. Cruise-ship life was unrelenting, with one itinerary finishing in the early morning, only to start another one that same afternoon. There was no such thing as days off, and so I could see why all of my crew friends took full advantage of their free hours whenever they were lucky enough to get some. I had not had a full day off in five weeks.

That was the way of cruise-ship life. And I was starting to believe my roommate Becky, who had assured me the first day of a new cruise itinerary never gets any less crazy.

As I strode quickly toward my place of employment in the photo gallery, I heard murmurs from crew members at all different stations. They were all repeating the same phrase: “Clear ship.” “Clear ship.” “Clear ship.”

They meant that for a very short time—only a little over an hour—the ship would be clear of passengers. Over three thousand passengers were on their way from our ship back to their real lives. Another three thousand were about to board and hopefully have the most entertaining and relaxing time of their lives.

But for crew members, today was the furthest thing from relaxing.

“Let’s get those walls cleared, Laila.” My boss Philip pointed at walls of photos of the passengers who had now left the ship. Sadly, each of those photos would now go in the garbage, as due to the chemical makeup, photo paper couldn’t even be recycled.

Andrew, my other coworker, was busily printing off totals for the week from our till. Philip turned his attention to our new Senior Photographer, Lorenzo.

“We have a large family reunion boarding. The Lark family from upstate New York. I’ll need you to meet them upon boarding and make it your mission to capture all of their events for the week. This is a very important family and I want you glued to their sides, making sure their every want and need is met. Here’s a schedule.” Philip held out a paper containing a table that looked as though it contained over a dozen events.

Lorenzo didn’t reach to take the paper. Philip’s personality was gruff, to say the least. No one usually stood up to him. Even Lorenzo didn’t stand up to him, but Lorenzo just had this relaxed, easy, Italian-ness about him that made it seem as though there was no hurry to follow anyone’s orders.

Philip, in his impatience, rattled the paper.

Lorenzo finally said, “I am not good with ze English. Olivia is a much better choice to take care of ze Lark family.”

When Lorenzo had first arrived on the ship I might have thought he was handing over this assignment to me as a romantic gesture, since he’d started flirting with me pretty much the moment he’d gotten onboard, but since then, I’d learned that he flirted with every woman he came into contact with, not just me. Also, he truly was shy when it came to his English.

Philip, who didn’t normally take direction from anyone, looked back and forth between Lorenzo and me three times before he finally said, “Maybe you’re right.” Then, to me, “Are you up for this, Olivia?”

Was I? I’d gotten used to my job and what was expected of me over the last month. I’d come to learn that Philip wasn’t truly angry with any of us, but only worried for his job, and, in fact, worried for the entire photo department, since many photo departments on other cruise ships had been closing.

I might not be able to finagle a compliment like “Good job!” out of Philip even if I performed open-heart surgery while photographing the process and turning pirouettes. However, I hadn’t come aboard the Moonlit Majesty in search of praise. I’d come here to find my new family, and my hope was that family could be created by challenging myself with new things and accepting or giving help along the way.

“You bet!’ I told Philip, taking the paper and looking down at the very full table of events. “Where do I start?”

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