Joanne Pence - Cooks Overboard

The sixth book in the Angie Amalfi series.



Food writer Angie Amalfi’s long-awaited vacation with her detective boyfriend Paavo Smith has all the ingredients of a romantic getaway – a sail to Acapulco aboard a freighter, no crowds, no homicide department worries, a red bikini. It’s the perfect scenario for a proposal.

But it isn’t long before Angie’s Love Boat fantasies are headed for stormy seas – the cook tries to jump off the ship, Paavo is acting mighty strange, the fellow passengers are an odd lot, Angie’s luggage is riffled through, and the meals are terribly unimaginative. She’s willing to help out in the kitchen, but when murder is added to the menu, Angie thinks maybe the cook had the right idea.


I liked this book, easy reading. Proper review will follow.
Easier said than done though. Inspiration just doesn’t struck me.
Angie has eagerly awaited the vacation time Paavo has coming. She really wants to talk with him about their future, about marriage. And she thinks a cruise to Acapulco is just the thing to mellow him. But Paavo balks at having his time spend for him by some activities director. Oh he will take a cruise with Angie, but on his own terms. Aboard a freighter. So Angie gives in, and they sail away on the Walhalla, a Norwegian container ship which will visit several ports, and has only a few passengers. And very very little amenities. But Angie is prepared for everything. She brought her own wine and glasses and some delicacies to enjoy. Some hot bikinis too, to the delight of the crew, and especially their cabin boy.
But something is wrong with Paavo, he pays little attention to all the strange things happening, and most of all, he smiles too much. And when he finally tells her, he has quit his job, Angie isn’t as pleased as she thought she would be. She wants her old Paavo back, the suspicious and careful man, not this … this … normal man who doesn’t pay attention! He doesn’t believe her when she tells him their luggage has been searched, that their cabin is bugged, or that the crew is acting strange. He acts like a tourist on vacation, trying to enjoy himself.

And when he finally tells her the truth about why he quit, that because of one of his cases, a fellow officer was shot saving his life, she is more than ever determined to convince him that he was not to blame, that he is a good officer, and she wants him to stay that way.
So when finally the old Paavo emerges from his grieve, it might be too late. Angie is in danger, not only from the criminals who bought the secret formula and murdered the professor, but by some left over spies from the cold war too. And of course the buyer. But this time it is not Paavo who saves Angie, but Angie who saves Paavo from the bad guys.

And in the end, the only thing Angie gets, is for Paavo to agree to think about getting engaged. Ah well. Patience is everything..