A Yacht to like in New Mystery

"Final Sail" by Elaine Viets
Reviewed by David Marshall James

Elaine Viets's "Dead-End Job" novels form a model of how a mystery series ought to develop, allowing the characters to evolve (if they're so inclined) without drifting far from the original premise.

Here, that premise is Helen Hawthorne's escape from a failed marriage and a seriously misguided court judgment against her, stipulating that half her future earnings go to her ex-- whom she caught in the midst of a seven-minute joyride on a patio lounge chair.

Not in this lifetime, deemed Helen, who took off from her native St. Louis, ultimately settling into a retro apartment complex in Fort Lauderdale, where she remained under the radar by taking a series of cash-under-the-table jobs, the better to maintain all her cents.

However, as the series has tracked on, Helen has re-emerged, reimbursing the IRS and being dragged into another mess with the ex, back in St. Louis. On the plus side, she's landed a decent spouse, and they've started up a P.I. agency.

Yet that hasn't kept HH from donning fresh career caps, however temporary, the better to get to the bottom of her "legitimate" investigations, as opposed to before, when she was pro-bono snooping on the scenes of the crimes.

HH and H(usband) have two cases-- one in which Phil (Husband) is donning a series of disguises with accompanying personas, as well as working as an "estate manager," the better to discover whether an alleged gold-digging former masseuse turned wealthy widow actually poisoned her much-older, much-richer spouse, as his daughter adamantly proclaims.

For that case, let's just say that HH is finding some new religion.

In the midst of that, she must embark from Fort Lauderdale to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, posing as a stewardess on a luxury yacht, on which the captain suspects one of his crew is smuggling emeralds.

It's undeniably glamorous, but not as much as it sounds. After all, HH must iron everything, guests' undies included, as well as scrub down the "head" after each and every use. Considering the volume of top-shelf alcoholic beverages that's being consumed by the yacht owner and his guests, that's no mean feat.

Viets creates a memorable voyage-- a truly delightful escapade with lush details and colorful characters (including a bejeweled poodle)-- that ought to reel in even more series followers.