Review: A Whodunit Mystery with Hilarious and unpredictable twists
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 15, 2012
This author took her colorful characters, Mrs. Aggie Underhill, private sleuth, her friends Betty and Roger, and placed them into a tricky, complex, and entertaining plot of enjoying a cruise to the Riviera of Mexico. She adds in colorful scenery and other details which also invite the reader to imagine what is like to travel to Mexico, and see the wonders through the characters' eyes as they witness all the beauty and entertainment one enjoys when on a cruise ship getaway.Except in this book she takes her characters and places them into tricky and awkward positions. Betty is attracted to the tall man Brice who is attracted to her camera.  His younger brother, Jack the loser, is to track Pablo, who is in trouble and is looking for help. Roger, not being sensible yet wanting to get his money's worth from the thieves of the shipping industry, thinks of ways to ripped off the cruise ship merchants, and he is enjoying himself immensely with that game.Anita, the mother-in-law, is driving poor Mrs. Aggie to want do a naughty actions against her, but she has to be the mature one. If Anita says one more tsk, Mrs. Aggie will go over the edge.Then there is the waitress, the stalker, the grumpy old man with his wife, and the married couple who desired more than what each is receiving from one another. All these characters come together and create a delightful tale of mystery and suspense.Meanwhile, on this trip the author introduces two shady characters and other possible suspects. Mrs. Aggie Underhill, private sleuth, smells trouble and starts to track the shady characters and finds clues to verify what she thinks is the case, but she herself was also surprised with the outcome as they all become enmeshed in a messy situation. There are hints of adultery, back stabbing, and secrets waiting to be discovered in the darkness of the starry twinkling diamond skies.In this comparable but hilarious plot of an Agatha Christie mystery, there is suspense and so many twists the reader had to take notes in her head to figure out the case before the conclusion of the story.  It was an enjoyable lite read, and for readers who like Whodunit Mysteries with hilarious antics and tying up the case in a nice little bundle, this and other stories written by the author are available at Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Ann-Hollstein/e/B004FSAF7Q/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 and as of Friday, August 17th One Hell of a Cruise will be free for the weekend on Amazon Kindle.  (hint, hint) go check it out and see if this reader was correct in her choice, this is an excellent read and 5 stars.In the author's words"After that, she settled down in bed to read the latest book in her favorite mystery series. It was an in-between the numbers book. She couldn't wait to see what kind of mess the protagonist happened to get herself into. A couple of chapters into the book, her eyes began to burn, the lids feeling heavy. She reached over to switch the lamp off on the nightstand next to her bed and finally gave into sleep. She'd just have to wait until another time to find out how her favorite nosy literary character would get out of her recent ordeal.""She herself was a tall woman of 5'10 with a fairly large build. She was by no means fat, just a good-sized woman. And Anita, well, she was barely 5'1 with a teeny tiny frame and not to mention a killer metabolism. Aggie figured that she had probably gained five pounds just from watching Anita inhale all those desserts at the lunch buffet. And she wouldn't be surprised in the least if Anita ended up losing weight by the end of the trip."Urrrr...." Aggie growled.""Difficult, especially since she couldn't tell them what she was up to in case Betty accidentally spilt the beans to Brice.And that poor boy, Pablo, he needed her help. She had to do something to help that unfortunate boy.Betty slumped her shoulders and scowled. She looked over at Aggie and groaned. Aggie knew why she was sulking. It was because Brice ignored her all evening. And even worse than that, Anita never asked for her camera back before Brice excused himself from the dining room."This reader highly recommends this author and her many books in this Mrs. Aggie Underhill series; reminds this reader of the younger years reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries and others like it. It was fun to find a series to read which made one laugh yet able to use the dominant brain cells to figure out the case.  As a bonus she also is familiar with Gluten diet and Celiac Disease is offering her readers' recipes to create and enjoy with this and her other books and keep their bodies feeling well. Two deals for the price of one.