Author: Carrie Doyle
Narrator: Elizabeth Cottle
Audiobook Length: 9 hours 35 minutes
Sometimes you have to rock the boat to catch a killer!
On the tropical island of Paraiso, Plum Lockhart has a new zest for life. Her villa rental company is growing like a weed, she’s solved a couple of pesky murders, and things with her long-time crush are finally starting to heat up.
Plum does sometimes miss her sparkly life in the Big Apple, so she’s thrilled when she gets an invite to dinner on the yacht, where she can mingle with famous singers, up-and-coming stars, society swans, and billionaires. After a few hours on the boat, Plum wonders what secrets are lurking beneath the surface.
Two days later, one of the servers from the yacht―a girl with a dragonfruit tattoo―washes up dead, and Plum’s sweet bit of paradise quickly goes sour. As the ship prepares to set sail across the Caribbean, Plum hops onboard to investigate the case, undercover. But the best laid plans turn deadly as it becomes clear that everyone on the boat has a motive and Plum must sleuth out the killer before she becomes the next victim…
The Girl with the Dragonfruit Tattoo is the third novel in the Trouble in Paradise series. When I requested this novel, I do not recall knowing that it was part of a series, so I had to alter my expectations a little when I found out it was the third story with the same set of characters. It reminded me of an Agatha Christie type mystery meets a little bit of Scooby Doo-type over-the-top-ness. The story follows Plum Lockhart who is opening her villa rental company on the tropical island of Paraiso. While on a yacht Plum meets stewardess Lysette, who soon winds up dead. Soon, Plum finds herself on a mission to find the killer before they can kill again.
Plum has previously solved a few murders which leads the police to let her be involved in this new mystery aboard the yacht. As the yacht is chartered by Plum’s old friend Ellen, it serves as the perfect reason for Plum to remain on board to work the case undercover. In addition to solving the murder, the story begins before the incident with introducing Plum’s latest venture with her company. She also is navigating a new relationship with Juan Kevin Munoz, the love interest in this story, who is the director of security at Las Frutas Resort. While there are some mentions of these two plotlines, once Plum begins the investigation, these do not get a lot of attention.
Since I missed the first two novels in the series, I was missing some background with the characters; however, the story was easy enough to understand on its own. The characters themselves are not very likable, but, as a reader, you still feel compelled to get to know them. The story itself reads a little over-the-top at times without a lot of depth, so it was a nice cozy mystery. I enjoyed the yacht setting as Plum attempts to solve the mystery. The killer was not difficult to guess, but it was not straight-forward either, which is what I like about cozy mysteries. The writing itself was a little slow in the beginning, but once it picked up around the 30ish percent mark, it was intriguing from start to finish. Overall, this was a fun story, although I would have preferred a little more depth to feel more connected to it.
**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed are completely my own.**
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