Kitty Underhay’s wedding is approaching fast but as the late summer season at the Dolphin Hotel proves busy there is little time to think of the nuptials. In Murder on Board by Helena Dixon, tenth in the 1930s amateur detective series, hotel owner Kitty is having a fitting for her wedding dress one day and organising a glamorous birthday party on board a riverboat steamer the next. Unfortunately the latter includes a murder and a jewel theft. Dartmouth, September 1934. Life at the Dolphin Hotel is transitioning as Kitty prepares to marry on Christmas Eve and her grandmother gets ready to retire. Chief evidence of this is the arrival of the new hotel manager, Mr Cyril Lutterworth. Meanwhile Kitty’s fiance Captain Matthew Bryant is working again for his old London spy boss, Brigadier Remmington-Blythe, following a man suspected of trading top secret information to the enemy. So when Kitty boards the Kingswear Castle to check everything is ready for the 21st birthday party of the Chief Constable’s daughter, she is horrified to see Matt’s suspect is working on board as a steward. And even more horrified when he is later killed in the engine room.
The party guests, unaware of the crime on board, are enjoying the second half of the celebrations at the Dolphin Hotel as planned with a glamorous evening ball. Sir Montague Hawkes presents the birthday girl, his daughter Serafina, with the fabulous Firestone diamond necklace, a family heirloom. But as soon as the necklace is fastened around her neck, the lights go out, Serafina screams and the necklace is gone. Chaos ensues. Inspector Greville is short-staffed and so recruits Kitty and Matt to help with the investigations of the two separate crimes, separate except for the fact that they happened in the presence of exactly the same group of guests.
Inspector Greville has no leads; every party guest seems to have seen nothing, to not know the dead man and to be shocked by the theft. There is an old foe, a kidnapping, a very flash car, a visit to Dartmouth Naval College and some unwanted romantic advances for Kitty, while Matt’s unruly dog Bertie is proven to have a hidden talent. How can Matt’s spy, the murder and the theft possibly be linked?
Borrowed from the library as an emergency read when my faithful Kindle finally died, this novel is just the ticket if you’re looking for a story to take you away from the stresses of modern life. I thoroughly enjoyed Murder on Board. I quickly guessed the puzzle of one of the crimes but wasn’t correct at identifying either the murderer or thief.

Next in the series is Murder at the Charity Ball.

Here are my reviews of other books in the series:-
MURDER AT THE DOLPHIN HOTEL #1MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ENDERLEY HALL #2MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE PLAYHOUSE #3MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR #4MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN THE BELLTOWER #5MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ELM HOUSE #6MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE WEDDING #7MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN FIRST CLASS #8MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE COUNTRY CLUB #9MISSUNDERHAY

And my reviews of the first in a new series by Helena Dixon:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY
THE SEASIDE MURDERS #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

If you like this, try:-
‘A Mansion for Murder’ by Frances Brody #13KATESHACKLETON
‘The French for Murder’ by Verity Bright #10LADYELEANORSWIFT
‘Death comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood #2MARLOWMURDERCLUB

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER ON BOARD by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8RS via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-