Donna Andrews. Terns of Endearment. Read by Bernadette Dunne, Dreamscape, 2019.

We have reviewed two other books by Donna Andrews. All her titles have something about birds. One thing is different with this one. Terns of Endearment does not take place at Christmas; however, the narrator and main characters are the same as in the other stories.

Our narrator, Meg Langslow, along with most of her family, accompany her naturalist grandfather on a cruise on an ocean liner. They took her grandfather aboard to give daily nature lectures on the voyage to and from Bermuda. She is accompanied by her husband, her two elementary-school aged sons, and various aunts and cousins.

Remember the folk song “Sloop John B” about a tragic sailing voyage in the Bahamas? One of the lines says, “This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on.” In this case, it is the captain, not the first mate, who gets drunk. But I am getting ahead of myself. Terns of Endearment tells of another bad trip. Oh, and a rare tern does figure in the tale.

It turns out that Grandfather is not the only celebrity aboard the ship. Desirée, a famous but possibly washed-up romance writer, makes her presence known, drawing attention to herself. But on the first night out, the ship is becalmed, and Desirée disappears overboard leaving a suicide note behind. Meg makes the discovery, so she finds herself once again in the middle of a crime/mystery. This time, though, her father the medical examiner is on the voyage. But the captain seems to consider the suicide a trivial matter. He says that authorities will investigate when they get to Bermuda.

The problem, though, is that they may not get to Bermuda. The ship is not moving because of a power failure. No propulsion, no electricity, so no running water, no air conditioning, no refrigeration. Things start looking really grim. And most of the crew is nowhere in sight. It turns out that they are first to get sick from rancid food. Things go from bad to worse. One ray of hope is that a cousin of Meg’s has a solar charger, so she can keep a few laptops and radios charged.

The captain has reported back to the port that there are a few minor problems, but they will be taken care of, no need to worry. Meanwhile, a crew member is murdered, and Grandfather’s assistant Trevor has never shown up. When they discover a book in Trevor’s cabin signed by Desirée—and he is not a reader of romances—they wonder if somehow he got involved with Desirée.

Also on board are four other authors. None of them have the sales or prestige of Desirée, but they are friends who each writes a different genre, and who blame Desirée for the death by suicide of a writer friend of theirs. In addition, they have uncovered evidence that Desirée may have plagiarized their late friend.

We also meet a few crew members, none of whom seem especially happy about the cruise line’s management. The implication is that such disasters would not have happened on a ship from a better run company like Royal Norwegian or Carnival.

As is true of Andrews’ style, there is a lot of humor (fish out of water?) but also she effectively tells the tale so that the listener begins to feel the heat of the steamy tin can in the water. Her “new age” cousin is convinced they are in the Bermuda Triangle, and things are going to get worse. Her two elementary aged sons don’t mind playing miniature golf if that is all there is to do, but they are getting tired of cheese and crackers. Andrews’ portrayal of the U.S. Coast Guard is reasonably accurate, too. We always enjoy appearances by Coasties.

As you might be able to tell from the bibliography, we listened to this on audio disc. Bernadette Duane reads exceptionally well. Not only is her pronunciation precise, but she voices the many different characters quite effectively. For those who prefer or who sometimes use recorded books, her reading makes this story even more fun.