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| Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea | 
 enlarge | Authors: Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark
Publisher: Large Print Distribution
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $9.77
You Save: $4.18 (30%)
New (6) Used (8) from $6.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 575681
Format: Large Print
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 306
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 1594132135
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781594132131
ASIN: 1594132135
Publication Date: November 8, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: U20090108191556G
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Product Description
IN THE BESTSELLING TRADITION OF THE CHRISTMAS THIEF . . . A HOLIDAY MYSTERY AT SEA America's Queen of Suspense -- Mary Higgins Clark -- joins forces with her daughter Carol -- bestselling author of the Regan Reilly mysteries -- in this fast-paced novel set on a special holiday cruise that sets sail from Miami the day after Christmas. Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth; recently "hitched" private detective Regan Reilly; and their husbands Willy and Jack, are guests on the Royal Mermaid's maiden voyage, the Santa Cruise. The cruise is Commodore Randolph Weed's gift to a select group of people who in the last year made the world a better place. What he doesn't know is that his ne'er-do-well nephew, Eric, has smuggled two escaping criminals on board. As the Royal Mermaid sails through troubled waters, Alvirah and Regan uncover clues that lead them to the dangerous men who were not on the original guest list! Filled with suspense and humor, Santa Cruise is a holiday mystery you won't want to miss. Join the Clarks as they bring this unpredictable voyage to a hair-raising and heartwarming conclusion and ring in the New Year.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 46 more reviews...
A Real Eye-Roller December 28, 2008
Like most reviewers, I love MHC (to use the nickname I've seen). She was the first "grown-up" author I read when I was a teen, "Stillwatch" one of the first "grown-up" mysteries. I've always admired her work and try to use some of her techniques in my own fiction writing.
Her daughter is another story. Like many others have said, it's clear that nepotism is alive and well in the publishing industry. I read one or two Regan Reilly stories before I just couldn't do it anymore.
So, going into this, I knew I was taking a risk. My great hope was that MHC was smart enough to write most of it and let CHC help out every once in a while.
As it turned out, the situation appeared reversed. "Santa Cruise" was filled with amateur writing and mystery cliches that had me rolling my eyes every few pages. Some lines were just plain random and had me rereading To top it all off, many of the characters, and the dialogue, were so incredibly corny or annoying that sometimes I cringed.
Despite this, I'm still giving it two stars because I somehow did get interested enough to finish the whole book, barely. It was kind of like a car wreck from which I couldn't look away. That is also the sole reason I would ever check out another Higgins/Clark collaboration...or if I ever needed a self-esteem boost as a writer. After all, if something like this book can be published, why can't mine?
Anyway, I can only hope this was the work of CHC, and not MHC losing her touch. Though I'll definitely be a little wary the next time I pick up a new MHC book.
DON'T BOTHER........... December 28, 2008
...with this ridiculous piece of holiday fluff. In this tale, lottery winner turned amateur sleuth Alvirah Meehan is invited on a free cruise targeting "do gooders" as reward for their community service. The invitation to Meehan--with extra tickets to invite several close friends--is primarily a pulic relations move by the boat's owner...to garner positive publicity and boost future sales. But it all goes wrong when the owner's nephew, intent on a big payday, brings on a couple of criminals hell bent on escaping prosecution...and when that happens, nothing goes as planned for anyone. Not for the cruise, the boat owner, or Alvirah and her friends.
With a formulaic and predictable "plot" burdened with cliched phrases and names (of course, people are threatened with getting "whacked" and mobsters have names like Tony "Bull's Eye" Pinto) this one was tough to get through.....
Ok, I wasted enough time reading it. No more time for a review. Be warned.
DYB
 Santa Cruise November 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I cannot say that I have ever been this disappointed in any book that I have ever read.
First off, you have Alvirah Meehan in the the story. She was in Mary Higgin's book "The Lottery Winner." It was fine to throw her in this novel due to the fact that the story is based on a rich man, Commodore Randolph Weed, buying a cruise ship that belonged to another rich man who vowed to never leave the ship.
The reason why Alvirah was on the ship is due to the fact that the Commodore gave away a few cruise to many other do-gooders as a Christmas present. Of course, Alvirah being the little detective that she is, picks up on the Commodore's nephew as hiding something, after he gives her a ticked off look about her taking his suite from him when the ship was overbooked. I would have given her a dirty look too, however, Alvirah automatically becomes suspicious of him. Why suspicious? Hmmm, too obvious for me here.
This book was unbelievable and it seemed that it was just written with no effort. Another reason why I am disappointed is due to the fact that Mary Higgins writes wonderful books. Why is this book so bad? I'm not sure, but don't waste your money on it. It's boring, unrealistic, and honestly, I see no reason why the felons who were stowed away on the cruise ship didn't get away. Sure, one of the felons looked like an author whose posters where everywhere on the ship, but, people actually thought they were seeing a ghost. The only other thing Alvirah had to go on was chips scattered in Eric's suite before she took it over, and yes, a deck of cards that had odd numbers on them, not seen by the bare eye unless you hold up a microscope. Huh? Who would actually think to do that to a deck of cards. Too obvious here again.
How she came to the conclusion that felons were on the ship from this little bit of information, startles me. I think there should have been better evidence leading up to it for instance, when Ivy Pickering spots "the so called writer ghost" jumping up and down in the chapel (by the way - too giving also due to the fact that he was suppose to look like the felon)why did the others not run inside the chapel to investigate? Surely, someone would have been curious and they could have caught the culprit sooner. There are just too many inconsistencies for me on this novel. I am a very disappointed fan.
It almost makes me want to take up writing novels - rewrite this book the way it should be told - and then, give a great story. But, I'm no writer, just a reader and write poetry.
I'm so happy I only paid $5 for this book while standing in line at Walgreens. The only reason why I picked it up was because of the authors. It has an inscription on the front of the book that says:
Sissy, Merry Christmas. Love Always, Your brother, Shawn. '06
Well dear Sissy, if you are reading this, I know why you got rid of this book honey. I am taking it to my local swap-a-book-store tomorrow. Maybe I can find a better cheaper book for $5.
Disappointing September 14, 2008
I have enjoyed Mary and Carol's collaborations in the past, but I couldn't even make it halfway through this one. I would instead recommend any of their other novels. The Christmas Thief, He Sees You When You're Sleeping, and Deck the Halls are far better. Do yourself a favor and save some time by not reading this book.
 Typical August 31, 2008
The usual plot for Mary Higgins Clark, always looking for a new angle with familiar authors.
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