Book 3 - Murder in the Crew Quarters - Olivia Ocean Cruise Ship Mysteries (E-Book) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Murder at sea!

As Olivia Ocean welcomes a new group of passengers aboard the Moonlit Majesty, a group of three women stand out as being particularly friendly. Not only that, but the youngest of the three has a real way with Olivia’s cat Pickle. The women offer to cat-sit, which is a huge help to Olivia. Her busy job and adventure-seeking cat don’t always make for the best combination.

But soon Pickle leads the trio to a corridor in the crew quarters that raises some ominous questions. The trio didn’t come aboard intending to investigate, but if there are deadly questions afoot, they have their own knack for finding answers.

If you’ve enjoyed Mallory and Amber in the Mallory Beck Cozy Culinary Capers or Tabby in the Tabitha Chase Days of the Week Mysteries, you’ll love their visit to the Moonlit Majesty.

Cozy up on your deck chair and start reading today!

My cat was convinced his leash was a toy.

I’d been caring for Pickle for almost two months and he’d become more cat than kitten in so many ways, but put a long dangly thing in front of him, and he was still one-hundred-percent rambunctious kitty-cat.

“Hold still, Pickle!” I whispered to him from behind the large mirrored volcano in the Moonlit Majesty’s atrium. There was a small cubbyhole under the mirrored feature and if I could figure out a way to attach his leash, I figured he could stay within eye-shot of the gangway as both Miles Blackwell and I welcomed a new set of passengers aboard, hopefully without any of them being the wiser to the cat’s presence.

This few short minutes was all I had before the atrium became very, very busy.

My cat wasn’t shy or lonely. He didn’t need me to be within eye-shot of him. It was actually my friend, the security manager, Miles, who suggested having Pickle nearby as the security team vetted new guests. Unfortunately, as I’d learned since working aboard my first cruise ship, illegal activity was common even out at sea, and if Miles thought my strangely-intuitive cat could be of assistance in sniffing out this kind of activity, I wasn’t one to argue.

To be fair, more than once Pickle had proven he had a sixth sense about trouble-making passengers. Miles believed in Pickle’s innate abilities even more than I did, and even though my security friend hadn’t given me any details, I got the sense that he was especially concerned about something related to the new passengers boarding today.

The least I could do was bring my cat along. Besides, I would do anything I could to help Miles. After losing both of my grandparents—my only remaining family—I had come aboard the Moonlit Majesty in search of a new family. It had been a rocky start, but between Miles, my friendly roommate, Becky, and my helpful photography coworker, Laila, I was definitely making some headway in achieving this objective.

Even though I was ready and willing to help, though, unfortunately, my little orange cat was just too curious for his own good. He kept trying to poke his head out to look for any nearby excitement. I strained under the volcano feature with the end of his leash outstretched, all the while with Pickle playfully batting at my arm. Finally, I found a loop of metal that I could hook his leash onto.

“Stay…still…for just…a second!” I whispered as I looped the leash end around the metal loop a couple more times to ensure he would stay put under the statue. A moment later, thankfully, I had it secured. “Now, if you want to be out in public, you need to stay invisible, okay, buddy?” I looked into his big, green, innocent-looking eyes, wondering how many of my words he could truly understand. Even though he appeared compliant, I knew better. If there was adventure to be had and a possible assailant to catch, he would find a way to get to them.

I sighed, gave my cat one last pat on his head, then reached for my camera as I stood and moved toward the gangway to start my work.

Miles was in his usual spot right at the front of the gangway, getting his computer system and his subordinates ready to check the bags of every passenger who came aboard. As I passed him I heard him explaining to his crew something about needing to crack down on the smuggling of alcohol aboard.

Majestic Cruise Lines used to allow passengers to bring a bottle of wine aboard with them, but this rule had recently changed to disallow all alcoholic beverages coming aboard. I hadn’t considered until now how much of a headache that may have been for our security department.

Miles nodded once to me and winked as I setup my tripod in front of the Moonlit Majesty backdrop. He and I tried to keep a professional distance, especially while I was working, but when he motioned toward the volcano with his eyebrows raised, I knew exactly what he was asking: Did you get my assistant tied up somewhere under there?

I grinned and offered one solid nod back at him.

It was all I had time for before my boss, Philip, appeared at my side. “Quick photos and move along, right, Olivia?” he asked me.

I had to work really hard at not rolling my eyes at him. Sure, my first week aboard I hadn’t been prepared for the quick pace of shipboard work, but I’d proven many times over that I could learn the ropes. Not only was I getting at least as quick as the rest of the photographers on board, I had worked on my ability to be friendly while doing it, which was more than I could say for Andrew Kim, the other junior photographer who often took gangway photos.

When would Philip finally have faith in me?

“You bet!” I told him, forcing a chipper voice to cover up my tiredness over this subject.

He scrutinized me, as if trying to see the false note in my words. I smiled, trying to appear as innocent as possible and after a second, he added, “I have a special assignment for you, Ocean.” He rarely called me by my first name, but I still bristled with discomfort each time he called me by my last. “I’d like to send you up to the Majestic Lounge to cover our suite guests as soon as I can get Andrew down here to take over. Think you can handle that?”

While this wasn’t the artistic freedom I’d been pleading for, usually taking suite photos was only reserved for senior photographers, so I saw this assignment as a compliment. “Yes, for sure!” I told him, and I didn’t have to work at inflecting enthusiasm into my voice.

Before we could speak any further, Miles announced, “Gangway is opening!” and Philip said, “I’ll leave you to it,” spinning on his heel, in search of his next subordinate.

While many crew members aboard the Moonlit Majesty hated Embarkation Day because it was turnover day, and therefore incredibly busy, I loved it. It was a whole new group of passengers, ready to be delighted by our beautiful cruise ship. I had to admit, after only a couple of months aboard, it really felt as though they were coming into my home and I always reveled at people’s first look at the atrium.

Within minutes I was in my element, and while I didn’t have the time I wanted with each group of boarding passengers, I was grinning from ear to ear from seeing their eyes light up at their first glimpse of the ship.

As another family moved away from the Moonlit Majesty backdrop and I suggested they make their way to the Lido Deck for a scrumptious lunch, a group of three young women approached. I could tell immediately that all three of them were new to cruising. The dark-haired one almost tripped over her own feet because her gaze was so fixed on the three open-deck floors visible through the atrium that she wasn’t watching where she was walking. The other two—a redhead in her mid-to-late twenties and a younger gal with hair color in between the two others—looked equally in awe, but it was the dark-haired woman I reached out to steady.

“Are the three of you traveling together? I’d love to capture a photo of you,” I said, while guiding the dark-haired woman toward the backdrop. She wore jeans and a floral blouse. The redhead was in a floor-length green dress that looked fabulous against her red hair. And the youngest, whom I guessed to be in her late teens, wore a sweatshirt that proclaimed in big bold letters: FLIGHT MODE. DO NOT DISTURB.

It made me smile even bigger. On one of our recent itineraries, I had met another teenager with attitude and we had become fast friends. The only thing I didn’t like about the turnover of passengers was so quickly saying goodbye to the people I found a connection with.

I’d worked on my spiel in greeting passengers, making it sound like getting their photograph taken was a happy option they wouldn’t want to miss. “You’re all going to have one of the best weeks of your lives,” I told these three women. “And I’m going to make sure you have some nice keepsake memories from it.”

It only took me a second to adjust my focus and capture the wonder on all of their faces.

I gave them my pitch about lunch on the Lido Deck and the youngest one asked, “Is it busy up there? Or will I be able to find somewhere to work?” She patted her backpack.

Unfortunately, the Lido Buffet was usually extremely busy on embarkation day, as most of the passenger cabins wouldn’t be ready for a couple of hours.

I opened my mouth to recommend they visit the main dining room instead, but before I could say anything, the dark-haired woman reprimanded her young friend.

“You can take a few minutes to relax and enjoy the ship, Amber.”

“Phtf, relax?” Amber huffed as she strode off with the two women in her wake.

It wasn’t unusual to find passengers who had trouble letting go and relaxing, but I had to admit, I was surprised at this trait in someone so young. I hoped it wouldn’t take long for the group of women to settle in and enjoy themselves.

Moving on to photograph the next family coming aboard, I set them up against the backdrop and adjusted my focus, but I couldn’t help glancing back to the three women, in hopes that the might look more at ease.

But to my horror, Amber was down on her hands and knees behind the volcano statue, tossing a long strand of elastic from the front of her backpack and pulling it away from my cat.

I wanted to be happy about Amber’s grin, which now stretched from ear to ear, but I was afraid she might be drawing too much attention to my cat.

The young girl must have had much better eyesight than me, because I couldn’t see Pickle at all in the dark space beneath the volcano feature.

The redheaded woman was closest to me, so I left my camera, reached for her arm and moved in close, barely considering my unprofessionalism. “Excuse me. I’m so sorry, but could you have your friend keep it down about the cat?”

My worried eyes met hers, and a second later, the woman turned and called, “Amber, Mallory? Can I talk to you for a second?”

My attention was split as the next family boarded and moved in front of my backdrop. Thankfully, the redheaded woman kept her young friend subdued and away from the statue, at least for the moment. The captain had officially given me permission to keep Pickle aboard the ship weeks ago, however, I’d learned from experience that some folks with allergies could be sensitive about having a cat in the vicinity for their vacation.

I couldn’t always help it when Pickle escaped and raced off to adventure on his own, but whenever I had any say over it, I tried not to allow Pickle to wander any indoor hallways or sit on any furniture. The last thing I wanted was to have a highly allergic person spot Pickle during their first thirty seconds aboard the ship.

I moved along to photograph the next family, and when I finished with them and looked back, thankfully, the women were nowhere in sight and when I moved closer to the statue, I saw my cat still seemed to be hidden away.

Turning in Miles’s direction, I hoped to share a distant laugh with him over the passenger who nearly gave my cat’s hiding spot away, but he was frowning down at his clipboard with an intense look of concentration.

It immediately reminded me of his serious look back when we were in the thick of a murder investigation. And it made me wonder: What might go wrong on this cruise itinerary?

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