Tern and tern about

by Donna Andrews of the Femmes Fatales.

Several years ago I came up with what I thought was a great idea for book in my Meg Langslow series. Meg’s grandfather, Dr. J. Montgomery Blake, the eminent naturalist and environmentalist, has been recruited to go on a cruise, where he’ll be giving lectures on the flora and fauna. And since I long ago determined that for a Meg book to work, she needs to be surrounded by a critical mass of her eccentric friends and family, one of the perqs of Dr. Blake’s lecture gig will be discounts to friends and family who want to accompany him. 

The murder would take place at sea! So only the passengers and crew would be suspects! A locked room mystery! Or, if you like, a waterlogged modern retelling of Murder on the Orient Express.

And since I like to marinate ideas before writing them, I tucked this one away to ripen, pulling it out occasionally to brainstorm on. Then sometime in 2017, when my editor and I were talking about what Meg would do next, I pulled out the cruise idea. He loved it, and we agreed I would work on it for my summer 2019 book. 

Just one teensy weensy obstacle to be overcome--I’d never actually taken a cruise. I figured I’d have plenty of time to take care of that before I started writing the book. 

But I was on a busy schedule. I had to finish writing Toucan Keep a Secret, and then I had a Christmas book due. I was in the middle of writing Lark! The Herald Angels Sing when it dawned on me--the cruise book was next on my schedule. And I still hadn’t taken that cruise.

I reached out to my friend Dina, since I knew she liked cruises. “Would you like to take a cruise with me?”  She was willing, and asked what kind of cruise I had in mind. I told her something short--because I had no idea whether or not I was prone to seasickness--and preferably something that took off from New York or Baltimore, so no plane flight would be required--I tend to come down with respiratory crud from air travel, and I didn’t think that would add to my enjoyment of the cruise. “Something like this,” I said, sending her a link to what sounded like a perfect cruise for my purposes, a five-day jaunt to Bermuda on a relatively small ship.”

Yes, it would have been perfect--except that it took off the following year, long after the book would have to be written. 

“Let me find something,” she said. So while I doggedly worked on meeting my deadline for Lark!, Dina researched cruises. She found a cruise similar to the one I’d liked--on a slightly larger ship, and taking off from New York rather than Baltimore, but still, almost exactly what I wanted. 

She then proceeded to organize every aspect of our journey. She nagged me to take care of small details--everything from finding my passport to buying the required style of luggage tags. She shared sage advice on what to pack for a cruise. She even managed somehow to wangle a free upgrade from a basic economy cabin on deck one to a much larger cabin on the top or spa deck. 

Dina is now officially my research trip travel agent.

We both agreed that a slightly smaller--okay, a much smaller--ship would have been preferable.  And that we would have preferred the kind of cruise that would offer lectures by Dr. Blake as the main entertainment. But the food was great--so was the company--and I learned enough about cruises that I felt ready to start writing my book.

Terns of Endearment, which came out this month, is the result. 

Here’s the official blurb:

Meg Langslow's grandfather has been booked by a cruise line to give lectures on birds and other environmental topics as part of their ship’s education/entertainment itinerary, and Grandfather has arranged for a passel of family members to join him.

The passengers’ vacation quickly becomes a nightmare when they wake up to find themselves broken down and in need of repairs in the Bermuda Triangle. To keep the stranded passengers calm, Meg’s family and friends band together to keep things organized and provide entertainment. Some even take up the cause of nursing an injured tern back to health.

But things get even worse when a crew member announces to all that a woman has jumped overboard, leaving behind her shoes, shawl, and a note. The note reveals she's the mortal enemy of group of writers who came on board for a retreat, and the group is split on whether suicide is in-character for her. Meanwhile, grandfather’s assistant Trevor seems to have gone missing too!

The captain decides not to investigate, saying he'll notify American authorities when they reach their destination. But Meg's father thinks they should find out whether there was foul play while the prime suspects are all stuck on board. Who wanted the writer dead? Why doesn’t the captain seem concerned? What happened to Trevor? It'll be a race against the clock to solve these mysteries before they make the necessary repairs and return to shore.

Now available from fine booksellers everywhere!

Comments

[Cyranetta]

Just finished it - a delightful entry in the series (which continues to be an autobuy for me), and the bit on animal nomenclature was a special treat.

[Mark]

This book is coming up on my TBR pile soon, and I'm looking forward to it as always. And since I am now working for a cruise line, I'll be reading with special interest.