I’ve never been on a cruise. I probably never will now–I was a germaphobe even before the pandemic hit, and I’m guessing the industry won’t be as popular for the foreseeable future. But for some reason, I’ve always liked stories set aboard ships, and reading this book was a perfect way to take an imaginary cruise in the British Isles.

Sheila and Shane McShane, a couple in their mid-eighties, are worried for their daughter, Shanna, who has gone missing during a cruise. When the cruise ship line and the security forces in her last known stop are unable to locate her, the couple take it upon themselves to find her, retracing their daughter’s steps along the same cruise ship, The Celestial of the Seas.

The couple makes an absolutely wonderful pair of protagonists. Sheila is a gregarious, intuitive person, with a natural gift for reading people. She has a sort of sixth sense for a person’s “aura,” and this more than once helps her figure out people’s motives.

Shane meanwhile is a cool, logical type. An organized and precise engineer who likes everything to run like a well-oiled machine. My kind of guy. Together, they make a perfect match, and the way their skills complement each other, not to mention their easy and obvious affection, makes every step of their adventure a real treat to read.

The book is charmingly funny. One early exchange with a waiter on the ship made me laugh out loud. There are plenty of entertaining crew members and passengers aboard, from the good-hearted and unfairly mis-treated Raoul to the puckish amateur magician, Carson Quick.

Eventually, Sheila and Shane piece together what happened to their daughter, and in so doing are drawn into quite a tangle of sinister events. While the tone of the story is light for the most part, towards the end, there are some moments of legitimate tension. It’s not  ultra-gritty in the way that, say, a Carrie Rubin novel is, but it still felt high-stakes all the same.

In a note at the end, the author mentions that inspiration from the book came from a real-life family cruise. It’s easy to see–the descriptions of the ship, and locales they visit, from Dublin to Ghent, are rendered in great detail, so much so that I felt like I was there, whether “there” was the extravagant ship’s dining room or the gloomy dungeon at Blarney Castle.

This is a really fun mystery, filled with plenty of humor and some fantastic settings. I don’t know if the author is planning to do any more, but I know I’d cheerfully read another Sheila and Shane story.