I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Shadow of the Queen
by Scott Finley
Series: Voyages of the Queen #1
Series Rating:
Published by Independently Published on April 5, 2024
Setting: New York City
Genres: Cozy Historical Mystery
Pages: 342
Format: Kindle, Paperback
Source: the Author
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: Queen of Diamonds
October, 1929. Murder books passage on the British luxury liner Queen Victoria, turning ship's nurse Maeve Chandler into an amateur sleuth apprenticing under the tutelage of mystery writer Agatha Christie. A passenger dies in full view of the first-class dining salon, followed by a millionaire apparently leaping overboard a day before the New York stock market crashes. Add in an abusive husband pushed down an open lift shaft and a crewman left to cook against a boiler in the ship's engine room, and a killer will walk free when the ship reaches New York unless Maeve and Agatha can unwind the clues -- but with 2,935 suspects on board, every revolution of the Queen Victoria's propellers means time is running out.
Shadow of the Queen by Scott Finley is a wonderful trip back in time with plenty of mystery and suspense.
Will Maeve figure out what is going on board the Queen Victoria before someone else is murdered?
We are onboard Queen Victoria in 1929 when ocean voyages were the only way across the Atlantic. Some odd things happen during this cruise, including murder, suicide, a birth, and a kidnapping, to name a few, along with a possible romance. Mr. Finley does a fantastic job of taking us back in time, showcasing the beauty of the time and ship and the reality for those not in first class.
The Mystery
We have multiple items going on and lots of red herrings, which I fell for. Things keep happening to those trapped on the cruise ship, and most of it seems unexplainable until our sleuth, with the help of some crewmembers and a famous mystery writer, breaks the case wide open.
Maeve Chandler
The cruise ship’s nurse and our sleuth is the widow Maeve Chandler. Her husband passed in the war, and she has been supporting herself since. Maeve likes puzzles and is good at figuring things out. However, the ship is quite large, and finding witnesses and keeping track of suspects is difficult.
I like Maeve and her outlook on life. She is humorous and looks for the brighter side. If Dr. Harper ever figures it out, Maeve and he would make a good couple. She is extremely friendly and makes friends with some of the passengers and most of the long-term crewmembers. I enjoyed getting to know her better.
Five Stars
My rating for Shadow of the Queen by Scott Finley is five stars. I truly enjoyed the story. The setting is well-researched and executed perfectly. The mystery is well plotted with many clues and red herrings to keep us guessing. I recommend Shadow of the Queen to all you historical cozy mystery readers out there.
Voyages of the Queen
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Shadow of the Queen by Scott Finley.
Until the next time,
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About Scott Finley
Scott’s fascination with the golden age of trans-Atlantic luxury liners began at an early age with reading Walter Lord’s Titanic classic, “A Night to Remember.” The later discovery that sinkings were not the norm and that ships actually crossed the Atlantic without incident didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. He wanted a ship to put in his parent’s backyard to play with after elementary school: unfortunately, being a fifth generation Texan and living inland in Dallas, ocean liners are hard to find. After graduating from the University of Texas with a degree in journalism Scott channeled his energies into a career in broadcast news, working for all four major network affiliates, then afterward doing training and corporate videos. Following that was a stint doing media for non-profit entities.
Along the way, and despite his best efforts, he collected one Emmy® nomination, 19 Telly Awards, three Aegis Awards, two Addy awards and five Best Newscast in Texas awards from the Associated Press, as well as an honorable mention from PR News for blogging for a non-profit. Outside of media and broadcast, he is the author of “A Little Theatre”, a two-act comedy that has been produced by several Texas community theaters with relatively few over-ripe tomatoes thrown at the actors.
Scott is an actor himself, having over thirty community theatrical productions to his credit as well as working as an interactive performer at Texas’ Scarborough Renaissance Festival® (where he says he wouldn’t have worn the white hose if he didn’t have the legs for it) and in murder mystery productions (usually as the victim).
To further warp his personality, he was an actor and writer for an old west gunfight show (again, usually the victim).
In his free time he enjoys writing, reading, Lionel trains, and repairing/restoring radios from the 1930’s – 1950’s.
But the call of the sea persisted….and ultimately found voice in the Voyages of the Queen series.
So, in a way, he did finally get that ship to play with; sadly, people keep getting killed aboard it.
He shares a home with his legal counsel Gabrielle, three cats, and a confused dog,
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Jenz 2024 Alphabet Soup-Author Edition-RC
- Jenz 2024 Cloak and Dagger
- Jenz 2024 Craving the Cozies
- Jenz 2024 Cruisin’ thru the Cozies
- Jenz 2024 Goodreads RC
- Jenz 2024 Medical Examiner Mystery RC
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