Denise continued to bounce around the dance floor engaging her audience with her well known and crowd pleasing hits, and a few love ballads. She dazzled her audience for almost an hour before slowly moving toward the Sinclair table. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” she purred. “May I introduce you to a man to whom I owe my career — and so much more,” she added teasingly and suggestively, “Mr. Brian Sinclair.” The spotlight fell on Brian, who stood and bowed slightly as the audience applauded loudly.
He was slightly embarrassed. Denise kissed him softly on the cheek. Sylvia had had enough. She started to rise. Denise continued, “And please welcome his charming and delightful wife, Mrs. Sylvia Sinclair.” The spotlight fell on Sylvia. Startled, she smiled feebly, nodded and sat down again. What is she up to, the conniving witch? Sylvia thought. Denise was in her glory. “The Sinclairs are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. Isn’t that fabulous?” The audience clapped loudly. “And now, I’d like to complete my show tonight with one of my all time favorite songs, made famous by Miss Doris Day.” As she stood in front of Brian, looking at him, she started to sing “I’ll Never Stop Loving You.”
My God, it’s as if she’s seducing him, Laura thought. Poor Sylvia, Marina empathized as she looked at her friend’s face. Sylvia remained stoic. An ominous feeling pervaded the table, as the not so subtle nuance was not lost on most of the people sitting there. The song finished. “Thank you. I love you and goodnight.” Denise blew kisses to the audience and made her way backstage, the curtains drawing behind her. There were shouts of “Bravo,” “More,” and “Encore” from the audience, but Denise continued to her dressing room. She kicked her shoes off, lit up a cigarette, poured herself some champagne and looked at herself in the mirror again. You did it gal! she said to herself. There was a sudden knock at the door. Well I wonder who that is, she thought. She walked to the door and opened it.
“Well, well, well. This is a surprise. I certainly never expected to see you here.” She eyed her visitor up and down. “Would you like to join me in a glass of champagne?” Denise opened her door wide, and gestured for her guest to enter.
~~~
When the rich and famous are scrutinized, you will often find many characters who just don't match the lives of the average citizen... A murder mystery might just turn into a soap opera! One of the things I realized early was that the author chose a tell-not-show type of storytelling. That method quickly smacks me into an alertness... An inexperienced writer, I wondered? I found it slow and prodding. And, I knew the killer while it was happening...
Still, I continued on reading from the beginning. As characters began to be introduced, we find Sylvia who may be considered one of the main characters. It is she who, for an anniversary coming up, chose to host an onboard party on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship. I've been on several cruises, so when we actually get onboard, I was interested... But first, we meet the individuals who will be invited. We meet her husband, of course and two children plus a number of business associates and friends.
During that dialogue about who was to be invited, we begin to learn about Sylvia's husband... Sylvia already had known that her husband was a philanderer, as the rich elite say... and, yes, she had decided to stay with him. The way Sylvia was portrayed though, I felt that she did indeed love her husband and was not just staying with him for his money...
But did she have to have it thrown in her face? For before, they even got on board, Brian had confirmed a tryst with the wife of one of couples who would be accompanying them! And, Sylvia had heard them!
But worse, when they were on board, the woman with whom Brian had been engaged before her, had come on board to "surprise" them! Indeed Brian owns Sinclair Records and Denise had been one of his first singers nearly 25 years ago, so why had she chosen to disrupt their 25th Silver Anniversary? Believe me, it will get worse before Brian is murdered...
Of course, I had determined the whodunit right at the beginning, but not the why...which was then discovered and verified by the killer. And, one key problem with the book is that a major crime had been brought out during all those interviews. This was totally dropped even though the involved characters were continuing to wondered... So was I.
Still, I had kept reading and while not totally involved as I normally am with a mystery, there was enough of that "reality show" mix where you think you could care less about each character, but they are sometimes so funny, dense, or totally outlandish that you just need to know... So, after all that, I realized that there is no way I ever want to be among the rich and famous and their lifestyles... But sometimes they are funny to watch, even when you are astounded with what these people might get into...
For a mystery, I'd have to rank it a 2... For pure stupid entertainment for character development... it's probably a 5, but only if you can enjoy them one time and never hear about those people again in your life...LOL But not doing a proper book closeout about a potential murder moved me back for a total of 3 on a scale of 1-5... You'll have to decide on this one...
GABixlerReviews
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