A rather boring entry in the Little series of mysteries.

At the behest of her father’s will, Carla Bray is cruising the world. After docking in the port of Tahiti and picking up a new passenger, the ship sets sail once more for its final port of call—San Francisco. But not everyone is destined to finish the cruise. Three dead bodies turn up in quick succession, and all of the murders seem to center around Carla.

Ogilvie, a member of the ship’s crew, hones in on Carla as suspect number one. However, Robert Arnold—the newly acquired passenger from Tahiti—doesn’t believe Carla is guilty, and he sets out to uncover the real culprit before the killer succeeds in getting rid of Carla, too.

This is a rather dispirited mystery that never really gets any energy going in terms of plot or character development. The cruise ship setting should be ideal for the Littles, but they just can’t seem to capture the allure or the excitement of a trans-oceanic cruise liner—maybe because this is their first attempt at mystery writing.

The heroine, Carla Bray, is unusual for the Littles in the sense that she is not a very strong female protagonist; she spends most of her time crying, fainting, or having hysterics. Robert Arnold is, of necessity, her love interest; and he falls in love with her at first sight although there is no earthly reason for him to do so. Carla herself eventually falls for Arnold, but only because she is scared out of her wits and he is the only fresh thing on the ship’s stale menu of eligible males. Arnold pursues, protects, and otherwise harangues poor little Carla throughout the book, until—in typical Little fashion—they end up engaged…mostly because Arnold seems to think it is required and Carla can’t seem to think of anything else to do.

All of the shipboard travelers are flat, easily forgettable characters. None of the murder victims are tragic; none of the passengers are sympathetic or quirky; and the eventual murderer seems like more of a bland afterthought than a sinister presence.

Once again, be prepared to endure errors in the Rue Morgue Press edition. My personal favorite this time around: “I rang the hell again” instead of “I rang the bell again.” ( )

Very enjoyable. This was described as wacky (or, at least, as one in a series of wacky novels), but that's not remotely the correct word--the humor was that smart, dry, Jane Austen-ish kind of humor, and I don't think anyone would call her wacky, not in the slightest. Fortunately I was hoping for a good book, not a wacky book, so this delighted.

Yes, the leading lady screams and faints more often than we would nowadays--but she's aware of it, comments upon it, and it's a bit of a joke, so that's fine. For 1938 the sex implications are described fairly maturely. All the supporting characters are interesting and well-drawn, and on the whole it's the sort of book that literary snobs would actually find well-written (oftentimes I think mystery lovers, myself included, will forgive a lot in terms of writing if the actual mystery elements grab our attention).

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

An very enjoyable read. Light-hearted mystery, written with intelligence and wit. Love the Sister's Little! ( )

This is the first of their many wonderful books. While you can't classify it as a series since the characters change from book to book. It does feel like a series in that the protagonist is always an independent young woman, who gets involved in a murder and is usually considered a suspect. The first book is pretty good though maybe a little rough. I haven't read them in order and was surprised by how good the first book is though. ( )