Cruise Ship Christian Cozy Mysteries Series: Box Set: Books 1-3 Read online

  Cruise Ship Christian Cozy Mysteries

  Box Set: Books 1-3

  Hope Callaghan

  FIRST EDITION

  hopecallaghan.com

  Copyright © 2015

  All rights reserved

  Visit hopecallaghan.com for special offers and soon-to-be-released books!

  This book is a work of fiction. Although places mentioned may be real, the characters, names and incidents and all other details are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews

  CONTENTS:

  About The Author

  Starboard Secrets: Book 1

  Portside Peril: Book 2

  Lethal Lobster: Book 3

  Free Books and More

  About The Author

  Hope Callaghan is an author who loves to write Christian books, especially Christian Mystery and Cozy Mystery books. Born and raised in a small town in West Michigan, she now lives in Florida with her husband.

  She is the proud mother of one daughter and a stepdaughter and stepson. When she's not doing the thing she loves best - writing books - she enjoys cooking, traveling and reading books.

  Hope loves to connect with her readers!

  Get Free Books and More!

  Sign up for my newsletter for special offers and soon-to-be-released books!

  Click Here To Get My Other FREE Books

  Visit hopecallaghan.com for information on special offers and soon-to-be-released books!

  Email: [email protected]

  Facebook page: www.facebook.com/hopecallaghanauthor

  Other Series Books by Author, Hope Callaghan: (Click Links Below For More Info)

  DECEPTION CHRISTIAN MYSTERY SERIES: (Samantha Rite)

  Samantha Rite is in desperate need of a vacation. Her life is shattered when after 21 years of marriage her husband walks out on her, leaving her for another woman.

  As Sam is trying to pick up the pieces and start over, her family decides now would be the perfect time for her to take a relaxing vacation. Before she can change her mind, she and her older sister are booked on a week-long Caribbean cruise.

  Just days before the trip, her sister is involved in a horrible accident and is unable to go. Persuaded to take this trip alone, Sam finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly adventure of a lifetime. Will she make it out alive?

  Waves of Deception is the first book in the Samantha Rite Adventure Series and offers a perfect blend of blossoming romance and action-packed adventure and suspense.

  GARDEN GIRLS CHRISTIAN COZY MYSTERIES SERIES: (Gloria Rutherford)

  Nothing exciting ever happens in the small town of Belhaven. Nothing that is, until a body is found in the woods behind the local elementary school.

  With the entire town in an uproar, "Garden Girl," Gloria Rutherford makes it her personal mission to find the killer or killers and solve the mystery with some help from her friends.

  With a little amateur detective work, Gloria is able to uncover enough clues that point right to the murderer. She's about to discover, however, things aren't always as clear-cut as they appear.

  CRUISE SHIP CHRISTIAN COZY MYSTERIES SERIES: (Millie Sanders)

  What do you get when you combine a recently divorced and heartbroken senior female, with the most exciting job on the high seas? Millie Sanders, of course! She is the new assistant cruise director for the mega cruise ship, "Siren of the Seas."

  Within minutes of stepping on board the ship, Millie finds herself right in the middle of a murder investigation.

  With a little help from her new friends, this amateur senior sleuth begins to discover clues and secrets that could possibly turn the ship upside down!

  Will the old saying..."Loose lips sink ships" hold true or will Millie survive her first week onboard?

  SWEET SOUTHERN SLEUTHS (Short Stories) (Loretta and Lacy Sweet):

  Loretta Sweet and her identical twin sister, Lacy, have recently inherited a home in Misery, Mississippi, from their distant relative, (Aunt) Tess McCoy.

  Their aunt's attorney insists that the girls meet him at the property to discuss the specifics of the will. When the sisters arrive for the meeting, they discover that there is more...much more to the will than just inheriting a home.

  As the attorney prepares to go over the details of the will, one of the "stipulations" makes a dramatic appearance, along with a body that is discovered in the bathtub.

  Will the Sweet sisters turn tail and run or will they stick around to help solve the murder?

  Starboard Secrets:

  Book 1

  Hope Callaghan

  hopecallaghan.com

  Copyright © 2015

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Although places mentioned may be real, the characters, names and incidents and all other details are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  ______________________________

  Visit my website for new releases and special offers: http://hopecallaghan.com

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Apple Crisp

  Chapter 1

  Mildred Sanders came to an abrupt halt. She lifted her head and stared at the side of the enormous cruise ship. The sea breeze blew bits of her stylish, gray bob into her eyes. She tucked the wayward strands of hair behind her ear as her eyes slowly ran the length of the ship, taking in every small detail of what was now her new home.

  She straightened her back and pulled her roundish, barely five-foot tall frame ramrod straight. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed the handle of her suitcase and yanked it along behind her.

  The sound of her sturdy, black pumps clicked in rhythm to the wheels on her luggage as she made her way down the sidewalk. The sound echoed off the side of a long, low building that stood sentinel in front of the massive ship.

  Millie sucked in a breath and stepped inside the drab, gray building. To the right was a small line of people. Other crew, Millie decided. Her new family. All of them complete strangers - until today.

  Millie made her way to the end of the line. She fumbled in her purse for her reading glasses and the thick stack of papers she had brought with her. Millie had filled out the paperwork weeks ago and submitted it on line. It seemed like an eternity ago.

  When it was Millie’s turn, she grabbed the handle of her suitcase and dragged it to the counter.

  It was obvious the woman behind the counter had done this dozens of times. Probably hundreds. She gave Millie an enco
uraging smile and picked up the driver’s license Millie had placed on the counter. She swiped the license through a scanner attached to the side of her computer monitor and handed it back.

  The woman pointed to a round lens on the edge of the counter. “Look in the camera and smile.” Millie smiled all right. Like someone who had just been picked up for trying to sneak a case of Metamucil out of the store without paying…or someone who had just run her ex-husband over with a golf cart.

  With a few more clicks on her keyboard, the woman reached behind her and grabbed a card that had magically dropped from a whirring machine. She glanced at the photo and slid it across the counter in Millie’s direction.

  Millie picked it up and studied the picture. Yeah. The look reminded her of someone who had narrowly avoided the dreaded door-to-door insurance salesman. Joy. She would be stuck with this horrible picture ID for a very long time!

  Millie picked up the lanyard and card, resisting the urge to toss it in the trash and beg the woman behind the counter for a do-over. She had a $20 bill in her pocket. Maybe she could bribe her…

  “Thank you,” Millie managed to croak.

  The woman smiled reassuringly and pointed. “Just follow the arrows.”

  Millie’s eyes dropped to the floor. She took a deep breath, grabbed the handle of her suitcase, and began the final steps to her new life. There was no turning back now.

  She followed the arrows until she reached the gangplank. For the tenth time that day and probably the millionth time in the last month, she wondered how on earth she had ended up here.

  A sixty year-old mother and grandmother should know better than to make a semi-rash decision to leave the comforts of hearth and home and embark on a new career. Over a thousand miles from everything familiar - and of all places - on a cruise ship!

  She’d like to think it was a thoughtless moment, an impulsive decision, but it really hadn’t been. Mildred, or Millie as everyone called her, had tossed around the idea of a drastic change in her life for months now. Ever since Roger, her ex-husband, had dropped a bomb when he informed her he was moving out of their comfortable home in the suburbs and moving in with one of his clients. Delilah Osborne to be exact. Who also happened to be Millie’s hairdresser.

  When Roger first said the woman’s name, Delilah, it hadn’t registered. It took a day or two for the whole thing to sink in. By then, Roger had packed up what he wanted and moved out. The only things he had left behind were crap he didn’t want.

  It gave Millie a bit of pleasure the night she built a roaring bonfire in the backyard and burned every single thing that reminded her of him. Which was a lot.

  Looking back, she should’ve realized the neighbors would call the fire department when the flames shot over ten feet in the air and torched a few of the leaves on their tree that hung over Millie’s fence. How was she to know Roger’s “mantique” collection of mounted deer antlers would burn that hot?

  By the time the fire department arrived, Millie had doused the flames with the garden hose. She couldn’t understand what the big deal was. Anyways, after that night, the house was a whole lot cleaner - and emptier.

  Delilah Osborne had hired Roger, a private investigator, to track down her husband’s investments. She had told Roger she was convinced he had a small fortune stashed in overseas bank accounts. She was right.

  When Delilah Osborne found out how much money her husband was hiding from her, she took him to the cleaners. Walked away with a tidy amount of money. Millions Roger had told her.

  Millie often wondered if the money was what had attracted Roger. For all 38 years of their marriage, he had worked days, nights, and even weekends building their business: Central Michigan Private Investigators. Of course, it was really only “investigator” and that investigator was her husband, Roger.

  Millie had been more of the behind-the-scenes partner while Roger did the nitty-gritty work. Covert operations, stakeouts, tailing people, exposing cheating spouses. Although sometimes Millie would tag along, but that was rare. Roger had always reminded her that investigating was a man’s job.

  Millie jerked her suitcase up and over the edge of the ramp. Just the thought of her ex-husband caused her blood pressure to spike a good ten points.

  In the beginning, Millie felt crushed. She never saw it coming. Now she was glad. The money-grubbers could have each other.

  Millie was still young. Still up for an adventure. This was why Millie was where she was at that moment. She had something to prove, not only to herself, but also to the world.

  It had all worked out in the end. She and Roger had had a semi-amicable divorce. He kept the business. She got the house - which they had owned free and clear - and he signed over all the retirement accounts. All two of them! Little did she know that he had “borrowed” from the retirement accounts to fund his mid-life crisis, which included the disgusting taxidermy collection.

  Still, Millie had enough money to live on. What she needed now was purpose in her life. When she saw the on-line ad for an assistant cruise director, it was like an answer to prayer. The ad had Millie’s name written all over it.

  “Come work for one of the largest, most prestigious cruise ship companies sailing the seas. Majestic Cruise Lines is searching for the needle in the haystack. A one-of-a-kind person who is adventurous, outgoing and creative, to join our team as assistant cruise director on our newest ship, the Siren of the Seas.

  This position requires an eight-month commitment. For more information and an application, please contact us at the email address listed below.”

  No one had ever called her adventurous or outgoing but, hey, if she got a job on board this cruise ship, that would certainly be considered adventurous and outgoing. Before she could change her mind, Millie filled out the on-line job application and sent it off.

  A week passed and Millie had almost given up. Almost. The day she received a reply stating that the company was interested in doing a phone interview, Millie almost passed out.

  Her heart raced as she dialed the number. The voice on the other end was warm and friendly. The interview had gone off without a hitch and Millie was certain she had passed the interview with flying colors.

  When the company called back a week later and asked her to come to Miami for a face-to-face interview, Millie almost backed out. She didn’t dare tell her son, Blake, or daughter, Beth, that she was going. They would think she had lost her mind. Maybe she had, but the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that God had shown her the ad.

  Millie had prayed about it and by the time she boarded the plane for Miami, she was at peace. If God meant for her to get this job, then she would.

  The interview had been brief. She got the impression that the company’s main reason for asking her to come down was to make sure she was a real person. They offered her the job on the spot and Millie accepted. She had three weeks to get her affairs in order back home before her contract began and the ship set sail.

  The first thing she did when she arrived back home was call a family meeting. The look on her children’s faces when she told them the news was priceless. She wasn’t far off when she thought they would think she’d lost her mind, but all that was behind her now. Millie stepped over the threshold and inside the entrance to the ship.

  She and Roger had been on a cruise not long before he left her and the ship they were on didn’t resemble this in the least.

  She looked around the glitzy, gleaming interior. The brass and glass atrium soared high above. A sea of voices bounced off the towering space and echoed all around her. Off to the left was a set of glass elevators. To the right - a long counter. Small clusters of cozy chairs dotted the spacious area.

  Millie took a step towards the counter on the right when an anguished cry filled the air. Off to one side, near what looked to be a bar area, was a small cluster of people. A cluster of white uniforms to be exact.

  Millie grabbed the handle of her suitcase and inched closer to the commot
ion. Someone was lying on the ground. That someone was wearing bright purple stiletto heels.

  “…then she just keeled over. R-right there in front of me,” a young man explained to an older man wearing a white uniform. Both men were leaning over what Millie could now see was a woman’s body.

  The man in uniform pressed two fingers to her throat. He shook his head. The older man in the white outfit stood abruptly. “She’s gone.”

  Millie swallowed hard. Her eyes darted to the body lying on the ground. The woman’s left arm was twisted at an odd angle while her other arm was splayed across her blue blazer. Toned, muscular legs thrust out below a matching blue skirt.

  Millie’s eyes traveled from the top of her head to the tip of her high heel shoes. Despite the gravity of the situation, the first thought that popped into Millie’s head was if the woman worked for the cruise line, those high heel shoes would be killer to wear all day!

  The man in white was obviously the man in charge. He glanced around at the growing crowd. He snapped his two-way radio from the clip attached to his belt and lifted it to his lips. “We need a stretcher and cover over at the atrium bar ASAP!”

  “Okay folks. The show is over.” A burly man, wearing a light blue button-down shirt began waving his arms. “Time to get back to work.”

  Millie took a step back. Her head was spinning. She hadn’t been on the cruise ship ten minutes and someone was already dead!

  When she turned around, she ran smack dab into a man who was also wearing a white uniform. Except the top of the man’s sleeves had stripes. Like uniform stripes. And he looked none too happy. “I’m sorry,” Millie apologized as she backed away.

  He gave a curt nod before sidestepping her and heading to the commotion nearby. Millie took a quick glance back before heading to the bank of elevators. She hadn’t the slightest idea where to go from here.