All at Sea

LoveReading Says

Loaded with hilarious high jinks on the high seas, Jonathan Whitelaw’s All at Sea gives the locked-room murder mystery genre an amusing maritime makeover. In this case, the room is The Regal Secret, a luxury yacht moored off Italy’s Ligurian coast awaiting the arrival of its crew — a melange of washed-up and wannabe celebs who’ve signed up to a reality TV show, variously hoping to reinvent themselves, redeem themselves, or replenish their depleted coffers.

Setting up its driving force (unlikely friendship formed through adversity), the novel’s leading lights clash before the voyage begins, when faded, jaded, desperate-for-dollars Hollywood has-been Howie is incensed at having to sit in cattle class while Cassandra, a superstar Scouser influencer, settles into a fancy business class pod. 

That same night, the yacht’s captain is murdered, which sees the show’s money-hungry producer seize an opportunity to salvage (and quite possibly elevate) the show when he convinces Cassandra and Howie to turn detective to discover whodunnit, with the duo’s fellow celeb crew members (a disgraced British politician, a World Cup-winning German footballer and Australia’s self-proclaimed “premier alternative thinker”) variously coming under suspicion.

Love cosy crime and outlandishly entertaining escapist fiction? All at Sea is your ticket to a voyage of reading pleasure, thanks to a story that sees the seafaring sleuths step up and form an unlikely bond as they’re forced to navigate increasingly troubled waters.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

Find This Book In