Helen Hawthorne is a woman with deep secrets and a dark
past. In her effort to put that all behind her, she has
married Phil Sagemont who is teaching her his trade --
private investigation. They have their hands full with a
variety of cases, but Helen enjoys taking these jobs to take
her mind off of the past that has a way of catching up with
her.
When FINAL SAIL opens, Helen and Phil agree to take a case
trying to determine whether a trophy wife killed her older
husband. Helen and Phil both agree to go undercover to try
to suss out what they can. Helen poses as Arthur's minister
(after being ordained online) as a way to get closer to the
grieving widow. Meanwhile, Phil is able to secure a job as
an estate manager at the Arthur's estate, which gives him
access to the place, leaving him free to look for evidence
and keep an eye on Blossom.
In the meantime, since Helen's job is extremely short-term,
she takes a separate job on a luxury yacht. The captain is
positive that one of his crew is smuggling jewels, and he
wants the culprit caught. Captain Josiah is aware that if
illegal jewels are found on his ship, he will be culpable,
and he doesn't want anything like that happening on his
watch. Helen is on her own as she sails the high seas,
trying to find a jewel smuggler, and working as a yacht
steward answering every beck and call of the super rich.
Fortunately, Helen isn't completely alone as she is able to
steal away occasionally to consult Phil via mobile phone.
During these calls, she is able to hear about how his
investigation into Blossom is going. She is also able to
confide in Captain Josiah and run some theories by him.
Between Phil's advice and Josiah's knowledge of his crew,
Helen is able to piece together what happened. The question
is whether she can do anything about it before the smuggler
does something about her.
FINAL SAIL was full of fun and suspense, which is a great
combination. FINAL SAIL is part of a series, and although I
hadn't read the other books in the series, there was enough
history included that I didn't feel lost. Helen's character
makes a great PI-in-training; she is spunky and curious but
not too intense. She also has a strong moral compass, and I
enjoyed seeing that come out in the beginning of the book.
Overall, FINAL SAIL is a great book, and I will gladly seek
out
the previous books in the series, as well as keep an eye for
the other books in this fun series.
To catch a jewel smuggler on a luxury yacht, Helen needs to
pose as the ship's new stewardess--but between serving
drinks to the snobs, scrubbing floors, and cleaning up after
seasick passengers, she's starting to miss dry land almost
as much as she misses Phil.
While Helen's cruising to the Bahamas, Phil's got his own
job--trying to catch a sexy gold digger who may have killed
her elderly new husband for his fortune. Good thing he's a
self-proclaimed master of disguise, playing it cool as
everything from an air-conditioning repairman to a
Rastafarian.
Helen's a help to Phil in his case, but when she's on her
own on the high seas, Helen needs to watch her step as she
searches out the smuggler--or she may end up going from
undercover to overboard...