By Melissa Ferguson

Knives Out with a dash of Murder on the Orient Express set on a cruise ship… but it’s a rom-com.

Who wouldn’t be intrigued with a premise like that?

Penelope Dupont doesn’t have time to be a writer because she works for one, more like seven of them. As the assistant to internationally renowned mystery author Hugh Griffin, she is kept busy helping with research, proofing drafts, coordinating his social schedule, and more. While her personal life is a trainwreck of betrayal, on the surface, she is still the energetic, confident, can-do Pip, organizing a book-themed luxury cruise for Hugh, the members of his writing group The Magnificent Seven, and their devoted readers. 

But, while Pip works so hard to make everything perfect, the cruise quickly unravels when Hugh is found dead. With incompetent security and the members of the Magnificent Seven all falling apart, Pip has no choice but to try and solve her boss’s murder before someone else winds up dead. But what if the murderer is one of The Magnificent Seven? Would an author be capable of murder? And is Pip, always the person in the background, able to be the heroine who saves the day, or is she doomed to be a secondary character casualty?

Cons: It took a bit to get into this book – some of the super long chapters did not help. Other than that, my biggest gripe is that the book is a Hallmark-y, rom-com, cozy mystery. My fault for expecting a book with a trendy cover to be anything different.

Pros: I took a risk on this book and was absolutely thrilled that it was CLEAN! No sex, language, questionable content, etc. And while the book is not marketed as Christian Fiction, if you know what you’re looking for, you can definitely see some deeper, almost parable-like themes.

Additionally, there were plenty of twists, moments I couldn’t put the book down, and an absolutely adorable friends-to-more, forced proximity romance. It’s a great beach or vacation read!

The Bottom Line: A sweet Hallmark-y version of Knives Out.