In this lesser effort from MWA Grand Master Clark, lottery winners Alvirah and Willy Meehan, last seen in 2016's As Time Goes By, celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary by taking a luxury cruise aboard the Queen Charlotte, which is making her maiden voyage from New York to Southampton, England. Limited to only 100 guests and boasting world-class accommodations and entertainment, the ship welcomes A-list luminaries such as 86-year-old Lady Emily Haywood, who possesses a fabulous emerald necklace once owned by Cleopatra. Lady Emily is accompanied by her assistant, Brenda Martin; her investment manager, Roger Pearson; and Roger's avaricious wife, Yvonne. Other passengers include gemologist Celia Kilbride, attorney Ted Cavanaugh, and thief Devon Michaelson. Each has reason to covet the necklace. When a murderer strikes, Alvirah slips into sleuthing mode. The sweet relationship between Alvirah and Willy is some consolation in this formulaic thriller that's short on suspense. Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The latest from Clark (The Sleeping Beauty Killer, 2016, etc.) is retro even for her: the maiden voyage of a trans-Atlantic ship crammed with more beautiful people, gossips, thieves, and killers than Death on the Nileor her own daughter Carol Higgins Clark's 1992 debut, Decked.If you don't already know, billionaire owner Gregory Morrison will be happy to tell you that the Queen Charlotte is the most luxurious ship to take to the seas since the Titanic. Among its stratospherically upscale appointments are invited lecturers Henry Longworth (Shakespeare) and Celia Kilbride (gemology) and a passenger list that includes Lady Emily Haywood, who owns the fabulous but famously cursed Cleopatra emerald necklace; her companion, Brenda Martin; her investment adviser, Roger Pearson, and Roger's wife, Yvonne; Kansas divorce Anna DeMille, who won the cruise in a church raffle; Ted Cavanaugh, an attorney trying to get Lady Em to return the necklace to Egypt; "the man with one thousand faces," who's bent on stealing the necklace; and Devon Michaelson, the Interpol agent charged with protecting the necklace. How does this all work out? After two murderous attacks, Morrison tells Michaelson in some exasperation, "Well, I must say you've done a lousy job," and it's hard to disagree. On the other hand, the accommodations are superb, the food and drinks unexcelled, the lectures informative, and the necklace safer than you might think because the thief keeps attacking its keepers just after they've passed it off to someone else. Long-ago lottery winners Alvirah and Willy Meehan, familiar to Clark fans (The Lottery Winner, 1994, etc.), are on hand to celebrate their 45th anniversary and provide what Alvirah considers great detective work, though even fans may be unimpressed on this score. The mixture is as before, with a bit less of everything except suspects and red herrings. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In Clark's (The Sleeping Beauty Killer, 2016) latest, bumbling lottery winners Alvirah and Willy Meehan take some of their $40 million windfall and splurge on a trans-Atlantic cruise on the über-luxury liner, Queen Charlotte. They're joined by an Agatha Christie-like cast of fellow passengers, from pompous Shakespearean lecturer Professor Longworth to antiquities expert Ted Cavanaugh. But the ship's collective attention turns to Lady Emily Haywood and her retinue, which includes personal assistant Brenda Martin and accountant Roger Pearson and his gold-digger wife, Yvonne. Lady Emily has stated that during the voyage she will wear the famed, and some say cursed, emerald necklace that once belonged to Cleopatra. But there's a jewel thief on board who wants to make sure that never happens, as well as a dedicated gemologist, Celia Kilbride, who may be the only one Lady Emily can trust with her jeweled treasures. Murders and men missing at sea provide Alvirah and Willy dangerous excitement and ample opportunities to further test their amateur sleuthing skills. The tried-and-true whodunit formula benefits from Alvirah and Willy's down-home charm.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2017 Booklist