Rolando had been a bartender for fourteen years, with gigs at beach resorts, mountain lodges, and more, but now he’d finally landed his dream job aboard the luxury cruise liner, Sea-renity Now. Life was generally quieter on the sea. After his last two positions, he was desperate for peace and calm. Today, he was tending at the poolside cabana bar. He opened the small under-cabinet fridge and bent down, doing a quick-glance inventory to make sure he wasn’t in need of any supplies. When he stood back up, he was startled to find eight women in swimsuits and sun hats had already seated themselves, thirst for beverage in their eyes.

“My,” Rolando said to them. “I’m not used to the seats at my bar filling up quite this fast. Are you ladies all together?”

Davis Way, a petite woman with copper-colored hair, shook her head. “No, it’s probably because the movie just let out. But Rolando, don’t you remember me? From the mountain lodge. By the way, I’ll have a sparkling water, please. I had a baby recently and am still nursing.”

Rolando scanned the faces around him more closely, his heart rate picking up speed. Yes, he did remember her and several of the others: women who seemed to attract murder like chum attracts sharks. And no matter where he fled, he couldn’t escape them either. Rolando filled up a glass from the soda gun with shaking hands. “Ah, yes, you do seem familiar now that I think of it. Tell me, do you have a story for me about murder on the high seas?” He laughed nervously, afraid to hear the answer.

Davis took the ice-cold glass from Rolando after he poured. “On the high seas? No.”

Rolando let out a large sigh of relief.

“But,” Davis continued, “I did recently solve a murder that happened after a very wealthy woman bought a yacht. Does that count?”

Jackie Norwood raised her hand. “Sparkling water for me too, Rolando,” she said. “I have a story about murder on the high seas. I was judging a high stakes seafood contest on a budget cruise line and…well, let’s just say one of the contestants ended up cold as death. Literally. Do you want to hear more?”

Rolando gave her a glass while wondering if it was too late to call in sick. “No. You’ve told me enough, thank you.” He spotted a blue-eyed blonde he remembered meeting before. “You look familiar. I believe you were at my Tiki bar in the Caribbean. Please tell me that you aren’t like these other ladies, still trailed by murder and mayhem.”

Lorrie shrugged. “I wish I could, but I can’t. I was recently on a hobby cruise to nowhere which was really fun at first until a man ended up dead. And not from natural causes, if you catch my drift. Also, could I get a frozen pina colada, please.”

Rolando got busy making that drink and decided he’d just stop talking.

Unfortunately, the ladies did not.

“Rolando, you remember, of course, that my first attempt at a honeymoon was ruined by murder.” said Caroline Cabot, a blue-eyed beauty seated next to Lorrie. “Well, my second attempt at a honeymoon, this time on a romantic Italian cruise, had the same problem. White wine for me, please, Rolando.”

Lucy Berberian, a dark-haired woman Rolando remembered from the mountains, chimed in. “Red wine for me. And you know what?” she said to Caroline, “My engagement cruise on a luxury yacht was ruined by a murder. I was so looking forward to relaxing with my fiancé, but no, we had to solve a murder instead.”

Rolando couldn’t believe his ears. What were the odds? Maybe a ship wasn’t so quiet a place to be after all. He searched for a way to change the conversation. “What movie were you just watching?”

“Death on the Nile,” said Riley Rhodes, a slim woman with wavy brown hair and emerald green eyes. “By Agatha Christie. Speaking of her, do you have a library on this cruise ship, Rolando?”

“Um…” Rolando tried to remember. “I think we do. Would you like to check out a book?”

“No. But I did want to share that the last time I was on a cruise ship was when I stepped in to help a friend who is a cruise line librarian.”

“Well, certainly there was no murder in such a calm place as a ship library.”

“True,” Riley said.

“Thank goodness,” said Rolando.

“The murder happened in the victim’s cabin. Could you make me a frozen mudslide?”

“Absolutely.” The act of blending up the rich, frozen concoction would give him a break and let him calm down from her answer. But it was only too soon before he was done.

Another unfamiliar looking woman caught Rolando’s eye. “Could I get a mimosa?”

He nodded, hoping to keep the conversation at a minimum. So much murderous talk made him lightheaded.

“Nice to meet you, Rolando, is it? I’m Pepper Reece. If it makes you feel any better,” she said to him. “While I’ve encountered murder at my spice shop in Seattle, I’ve never encountered a murder at sea.”

Rolando could not help but think there was more to this story. “But…”

“But, on a ferry in the San Juan Islands, I met a tourist who later attempted murder, and I have a hunch it wasn’t the first time.”

Barbara Marr, the curly-haired woman sitting next to Pepper, waited until he’d served the mimosa. “Rolando, I can see we make you very nervous, so I won’t tell you what happened on my sunset cruise in Key West. But I wonder, can you whip me up a cocktail if I tell you the ingredients?”

“Sure. What do you call it?”

“Murder at Sea.”

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Murder At Sea, A Destination Murder Short Story Collection
Genre: Cozy Anthology
Release: May 2023
Format: Digital
Purchase Link

Fear naut, the next Destination Murders collection is coming soon: Murder at Sea. Third in this well-reviewed series, Murder at Sea reels in readers with these craft-y short stories from eight of your favorite award-winning and bestselling cozy authors. If you’ve been cruising for some deadly fun entertainment, drop anchor here. We don’t want to be too stern, but it’s a-boat time you succumb to pier pressure and buy this collection with its ferry-tale endings. For pre-sale now, sets sail May 23, 2023. (Psst. Do it schooner rather than later!)

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LAST CHAPTER AT SEA, Meri Allen, an Ice Cream Shop mystery. Riley Rhodes’ trip aboard the elegant White Rose of York from New York City to Southampton is interrupted when the star of their Author Cruise is murdered.

DOUBLE DEEP, Gretchen Archer, a Bellisimo Casino series short story. Double Deep finds pregnant Davis Way Cole solving the mystery of a jewelry heiress’s untimely death just as the old girl was about to set sail to Africa on her own cruise ship.

SEAFOOD RUB, Leslie Budewitz, a Spice Shop short story. Pepper and Nate take a long weekend getaway to the San Juan Islands, only to find that trouble caught the same ferry—and that killer whales aren’t the only deadly threat circling their prey.

PIE-CO, Karen Cantwell, another short story in the Barbara Marr series. Barbara Marr and her friends plan a girls’ getaway in Key West to lift Peggy’s spirits after her book is rejected, but their history of encountering dead bodies in Florida makes Barb reluctant to go. And for good reason, it seems.

BON BON VOYAGE: GONE WITH THE TIDE, Eleanor Cawood Jones. Lorrie George and friends love to vacation together. When they all go on a Cruise to Nowhere, they soon discover that murder can happen ANYWHERE.

A SAIL OF TWO CONTINENTS, Tina Kashian, a short story in the Kebab Kitchen series. When the murder of a Greek tycoon mars a sail on a luxury yacht on the way to Greece, amateur sleuth, Lucy Berberian, has to solve the crime before all the evidence washes out to sea.

TWO IF BY SEA, Shawn Reilly Simmons. After their first attempt at a honeymoon goes downhill fast, Caroline and Ross Cabot try again for a romantic getaway on a luxury cruise to the Amalfi Coast. But all is not smooth sailing when a passenger ends up dead, another goes missing, and the entire crew seems to be hiding a dark secret below decks.

CRUISE FROM HELHEIM, Cathy Wiley, a new short story in the Food Festival Fatalities series. Former celebrity chef Jackie Norwood sets sail on a budget, Norse-themed cruise line to judge a seafood festival. With high stakes and cutthroat competitors, it doesn’t take very long until things get fishy.

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