Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Mystery Cruise Murders: Jim Richards Murder Novels, #9
    Mystery Cruise Murders: Jim Richards Murder Novels, #9
    Mystery Cruise Murders: Jim Richards Murder Novels, #9
    Ebook201 pages3 hours

    Mystery Cruise Murders: Jim Richards Murder Novels, #9

    By Bob Moats

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Hollywood has come and gone for Jim and Penny, the TV movie about the Classmate Murders has been filmed and shown on TV and their lives are back to normal now. A woman comes into Jim's office one day from a mystery writers organization requesting Jim to join them on a luxury cruise of the Pacific Ocean to give a speech about his book, movie and his adventures being a P.I. but once Jim and Penny have sailed port the fun begins. It seems mystery writers are a murderous bunch of people and someone doesn't like a few of the writers and a book agent, so people are turning up dead. The Captain of the liner decides to enlist Jim in the hunt for the killer before the cruise goes south. Jim and Penny are joined by Buck and Maria as they try to solve the crime and give the mystery writers something to write about in this ninth book of the Jim Richards murder novels.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBob Moats
    Release dateJan 20, 2014
    ISBN9781497753358
    Mystery Cruise Murders: Jim Richards Murder Novels, #9
    Author

    Bob Moats

    Detroit area resident, Bob Moats, has been writing short stories and plays for as long as he can remember. He has lost most of his original stories, typed or handwritten, in the numerous moves he has made from his hometown of Fraser, Michigan to Northern Michigan, to Las Vegas and back to Fraser, where he now lives. Moats became one of the causalities of unemployment a year ago, and had time on his hands to finally pursue a life long dream of writing a full blown crime novel. Thus was born the first book, "Classmate Murders".What followed was a series of seven books starting with "The Classmate Murders" which introduces the main character, Jim Richards, who has to admit he has become a senior citizen, reluctantly. Richards, one day, receives an email from a childhood sweetheart asking for his help, but by the time he reaches her, she has been murdered. His life turns around and he is pulled into numerous murders of women from his high school who he hasn't seen in forty years. Along with a friend of his, Buck, a big, mustached biker, they go off to track down the killer before he can get to one former classmate, Penny Wickens, a TV talk show host who Jim has just fallen for while protecting her. The killer is also murdering the women right out from under police protection, driving homicide detective Will Trapper crazy, and he slowly depends on Jim to help. There's humor, suspense, wild chases across suburban Detroit with cops, classic cars and motorcycle clubs; murder, mayhem, a good amount of romance and a twist ending.Jim and his crime fighters, continue in the other books, traveling to Las Vegas twice, back to Detroit and out to New York to solve murders involving dominatrix; mistresses; Bridezillas; magic and strip clubs.Book titles: Classmate Murders; Vegas Showgirl Murders; Dominatrix Murders; Mistress Murders; Bridezilla Murders; Magic Murders; Strip Club Murders and Made-for-TV Murders.

    Read more from Bob Moats

    Related to Mystery Cruise Murders

    Titles in the series (42)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Lauren + Chris

      Dec 23, 2019

      Lauren + Chris
      1 min read

    • Article

      A Single Red Balloon

      Feb 12, 2024

      Joe wanted a reason to live. He was sitting on the corner of Lexington and 53rd, surrounded by his few worldly possessions and a cardboard sign that read “Disabled Veteran, Please Help” propped up against a metal jar with a few coins in it. He walks

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Sound Of Crickets

      Jul 10, 2022

      The Sound Of Crickets
      9 min read

    • Article

      Coming Soon...

      Dec 15, 2020

      David Tennant stars as Phileas Fogg in this new adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel. Phileas is joined on his voyage by sidekick Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma) and journalist Abigail Fix (Leonie Benesch).  The cookery show returned earlier this year afte

      1 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Meet The Agent

      Oct 10, 2022

      Meet The Agent
      1 min read

    • Article

      Graham Bartlett

      Jul 7, 2022

      Graham Bartlett
      3 min read

    • Article

      She Helped Him ‘Do Life’

      Oct 5, 2021

      She Helped Him ‘Do Life’
      6 min read

    • Article

      Graham Bartlett

      Jul 7, 2022

      Graham Bartlett
      4 min read

    • Article

      Shelve This in Memoir: Confessions of a Teenage Bookseller

      Sep 5, 2022

      I’d begged my way into this job in the hopes that it might lead me closer to a literary life. And it would. Eventually. The post Shelve This in Memoir: Confessions of a Teenage Bookseller appeared first on The Millions.

      10 min read

    • Article

      Roz Watkins

      Jul 6, 2023

      My latest book is The Red House. It’s mainly written from the point of view of a young woman, Eve, who survived (and witnessed) a family annihilation when she was just five years old. She saw her fifteen-year-old brother, who she adored, murder her m

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Green-Eyed Monster and Me

      Oct 18, 2021

      My phone beeped as I yanked the passenger door closed. I knew instinctively that the text was from my friend Robin, a poet. And I did not want to read it. After months of pandemic huddle in the suburbs, my family and I were taking a day trip to New Y

      2 min read

    • Article

      Lucie Whitehouse

      Apr 2, 2020

      Lucie Whitehouse, whose previous books have been chosen for Richard & Judy TV Book Club and ITV Crime Thriller Book Club, now lives in Brooklyn. Her writing life has changed over the years. ‘When I first started, writing had to fit around a time-cons

      3 min read

    • Article

      Take a Writer Like Him: My Complicated Love Affair with Kingsley Amis

      Aug 24, 2018

      1. As much as I may rack my brain, there are 15 minutes or so in the dark that I can’t account for and that I’ll never get back—15 minutes during which, I have to think, that creep’s hands were touching my body. It’s a weird thing to think about all

      12 min read

    • Article

      How I Broke All The Rules

      Feb 4, 2021

      How I Broke All The Rules
      6 min read

    • Article

      Sensory Overload: The Millions Interviews Liska Jacobs

      Jul 22, 2022

      "When you’re in the thick of writing a novel, nothing else matters." The post Sensory Overload: The Millions Interviews Liska Jacobs appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Carvell Wallace

      Dec 2, 2020

      No wonder literary critics of the time panned the book. It did not pretend. A perfect thing for a book to avoid doing in a year in which for the very briefest of moments, and in the very slightest of ways, we could all see that the veil had been lift

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Fiction No. 244

      Sep 15, 2019

      The Art of Fiction No. 244
      30 min read

    • Article

      Long Story Short

      Oct 25, 2021

      Long Story Short
      8 min read

    • Article

      Go Your Own Way

      Apr 7, 2022

      Go Your Own Way
      10 min read

    • Article

      David Mamet Talks About His New Book 'Chicago,' All About Gangsters And Tribune Reporters

      Feb 28, 2018

      SANTA MONICA, Calif. - "The question is, then," Mike said, "what is evil?" "Well, that is decided," Doyle said, "by the fellow holding the gun." David Mamet wrote those words, the most recent of thousands he has memorably placed into the mouths of hu

      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Mystery Cruise Murders

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Mystery Cruise Murders - Bob Moats

      Mystery Cruise Murders by Bob Moats

      ––––––––

      Chapter 1

      The woman sat on the hard bench looking up at the can of energy drink, beckoning her to take it. She reached up and not caring that it wasn't hers, popped the pull-tab and took a hearty swallow of the liquid, ready to savor the taste. After she had swallowed, her taste buds started to burn, then her stomach started to turn on her, she felt a nauseous dizziness and a foam rose from her throat to her lips. She looked to her friend standing close and tried to talk but couldn't because she was now convulsing. She knew she was dying.

      I sat back in my aging desk chair studying the last line I had typed into my laptop remembering how Penny threatened me with divorce if I finished this book about the Vegas showgirl murders, but it had to be told. Okay, it did not have to be told, but I was really enjoying writing. Penny was kidding me about the fact that my first book brought out murders at the movie studio where the thing was being filmed. She wanted to be sure that no more murders occurred because of my books. My first book, Classmate Murders, had done well in sales, enough to be on the bestseller book list and the TV movie made from the book had helped those sales.

      Two weeks ago all our friends and family had sat in our living room as we watched the first episode of the two-part miniseries, it was still good even though we had already seen it at the premiere showing at the Fox Theatre in Detroit last Month. We gathered again the next night and finished the show. It did well in the ratings for a cable show, and probably would be going to DVD in a month or so, if it didn't warrant a rerun. I had heard some rumors about it being picked up by one of the networks for prime time viewing. More book sales I thought.

      I looked out the front window of my private investigating office, it was snowing now, I hated winters. I have absolutely no use for snow or cold and this made me want to move back to Vegas even more. When the snow first started early this year, Penny and I talked more about moving, it was still on the table, but we just couldn't take that first step to do so. Don't know why, maybe it's because our friends were here and my family, so we had to consider that. Being two thousand miles away from everyone was something to think about and not everyone would move with us.

      Business was slow right now, not many wives wanting their husbands followed, and I had no murders to investigate, so I turned back to the laptop and thought about my next line in the story, being amazed that writers do this without a real life crime to fall back on. I didn't have to make this up, it actually happened, I just had to do it justice with my words. My book was a true crime story with a touch of fictional account, but there were authors out there that had to depend on their imagination to create a story that they could put down on paper. I could write, but could I make it up? I'd have to try a fictional book next. I spent the next half hour working on the book until my office door opened, startling me from my concentration. It was Buck.

      Hey Jimmy, what's happening? He said with a big smile that always brightened my day.

      Just working on my next book, I replied.

      I thought Penny was going to dump you if you finished that book?

      I'm not telling her.

      She'll know; you know she'll know.

      You're not helping. Did you stop in to tell me something or just to annoy?

      I just came by to tell you that I talked to Maria last night and she's coming out to stay with me for a month.

      She's leaving Las Vegas to come to this miserable weather? I said pointing to the snow now hitting my window.

      She used to live here, so she wants to play in the snow for a while and spend some time with me, he grinned again. She said she hasn't been around snow in years and got some vacation time from the Tropicana, so she'll be here in two days.

      Is Deacon coming too?

      No, he's not. Maria warned him not to follow her. He's just a bit overly protective of his sister, Buck laughed.

      And he lets her be with you? I'm astonished.

      So, have you gotten any money from your book sales? Buck asked ignoring my comment.

      They send me a check every so often, I'm not getting rich, the publishers, bookstores and distributors take their cuts. Amazing how everyone dips into the thing. My book is selling for $29.95 in most good bookstores; I get $3.98 from each book sold, amazing.

      Well, when your book is selling in the millions, you'll be rich, Buck smiled.

      So have you figured out what to do with Maria when she comes out, any plans yet?

      I got all kinds of ideas and places to go. I sat down last night and wrote out some fun things to do.

      This isn't Vegas; there isn't a hell of a lot of things to do. Take her to see the closed down factories and stores, or drive up and down the freeway and watch the road rage, I laughed.

      Hey, there are things to do, museums, Henry Ford's Greenfield Village, Detroit Institute of Art, lots of good stuff and we can head north to Frankenmuth and take in the German restaurants along with Bronner's Christmas store.

      I know there are things to do and I'm sure you'll be able to entertain her for the month. If you two can get out of the bedroom.

      It's not about sex, which is good, but not the only thing... well, its most of it, he gave a sly little smile.

      Just as he finished saying that my office door opened and a woman stepped in. She was in her forties I estimated, not beautiful but attractive and tall, almost as tall as Buck. She was also thin, looked like she could use a few extra pounds. She was dressed nicely in a business type outfit, she had sandy brown hair and deep brown eyes that looked to Buck and then me, she had a confused expression. I stood.

      May I help you? I asked as I came around the desk towards her.

      I'm looking for Jim Richards, she said quietly as if she didn’t want to disturb us.

      I'm he. Can I help you? I said again.

      May we talk? she asked looking at Buck.

      Come in, this is Buck Carson, my associate in crime fighting, I said.

      Her face brightened and she went to Buck. Mr. Buck, yes I know of you. I read Mr. Richards’ book, Classmate Murders, and I know you. She held her hand out to shake Buck's; he stood and took her hand and did one of those European greetings of kissing her hand. He looked to her and said it was a pleasure to meet such a lovely lady. I didn't think Buck would ever do something like that, but he always surprised me. She flushed, giggled, and said, It's an honor to meet you.

      Buck offered her the client chair he was sitting in; she thanked him and sat. He pulled up one of the extra chairs from by the door and sat at the end of my desk. I was still standing; I figured I had better sit.

      Now, what can I do for you and your name is? I asked.

      I'm Elizabeth Collins and I need your help, I'm on the main committee for our writers organization and we have a problem, she started, I'm with the International Mystery and Horror Writers Association and we have a convention coming up this month and one of our guest speakers has taken ill and can't make it. I've watched your television miniseries and have read your book, we were wondering if you would be interested in being a speaker? We had our plans all arranged last year and didn't know about you until this last month, and now everyone really wants you to fill in. I know its short notice, but things have happened so fast.

      I was taken by surprise that she wanted me, I never thought about becoming a speaker. What would this entail and where is the convention to be held.

      Well, you'd just have to talk about the classmate crime and how you came to write the book, plus we'd like to hear about your adventures in fighting crimes that have been so widely publicized since the movie. You are quite well known now in our circles. I'm sure our group would gain valuable knowledge from your work. As to where, it's being held on the Queen of the Pacific Ocean cruise lines, sailing from Los Angeles to Hawaii, then to Tahiti then back. It's a sixteen day cruise, just for the convention people.

      I could see Buck's jaw drop even though he hadn't opened his mouth, my mouth did drop a bit. An ocean cruise, I had never been on one before and the closest I got to one was when I took first place in the magic competition during the magic convention in Colon. I was offered a three-month contract to perform my act on a cruise line but turned it down, too long for Penny to be away from her show. Sixteen days could be arranged if her station ran reruns, they've done it before.

      You would be paid for your time and all air travel expenses to the ship and back to here would be covered. Your cruise, stateroom and food would be covered also. I'm sure you will bring your lovely wife, Penny, she added.

      She'd murder me if I didn't. Well it sounds like an offer I really can't refuse. One condition, may I bring two friends with us, I'd pay for their air travel myself, I said thinking of Buck and Maria. I could see Buck's eyes widen.

      I'm sure it can be arranged, who might your friends be, may I ask?

      Well, Buck and his lady friend, I told her.

      Her eyes shifted to Buck and a smile crept across her mouth. It would be an honor to have Mr. Buck along. I noticed the mention of a lady friend didn't faze her, I thought Buck might have a stalker now.

      We finalized the details and she left. Buck was bouncing in his seat. I got to call Maria, thanks for inviting us, this will be fantastic.

      I laughed and said to hold on, as I picked up my cell phone and made a call. Three rings later Penny answered, I said, Hi beautiful, pack your bikini, you'll never believe where we are going.

      **

      Chapter 2

      ––––––––

      When I arrived at home, Penny was on the phone using her corded earpiece plugged into her cell phone. She had suitcases all over the living room; I just sighed and accepted it. I stood watching her scamper from bedroom to suitcases carrying arm loads of clothing, it looked like she was packing to leave me, and in a hurry. I heard her mention the name Gordy, so I figured she was arranging for time off from her show. She finished up and came bouncing over to me, latching on with a big kiss.

      I presume Gordy gave you the time off? I asked when she broke away to stuff one suitcase with shoes, why I don't know, she could wander barefoot for the whole trip for all I cared.

      He was reluctant, but said they could run old shows while we're gone. I didn't even ask him for any favors to film our cruise. I don't want cameras anywhere near me for the entire trip. Does the ship have a pool? She was happy as she held up swimsuits comparing them.

      I smiled and said, I'm sure they do, most cruise ships don't like their passengers diving off the side of the ship to swim in the ocean.

      She stared at me for a moment, and then broke out laughing; I liked her laugh. She flitted off to the bedroom again as I picked up Willy, our toy Yorkie, and gave him a noogie. Penny came back out and asked if we were taking him.

      No, I think we should leave him with my Mom, I have this image of Willy chasing a seagull off the deck of the ship and ending up in the ocean all alone as shark bait. I don't want that to happen, so he’ll have to put up with my Mom while we're away. Luckily he likes her so they should get along, I said.

      Good idea, now you have me visualizing him out all by himself treading water. Not a good image, she grinned and kissed my cheek as she passed me to pack more swimsuits.

      We're only going to be on the ship for sixteen days, do you really need all this stuff? I said knowing what the answer would be and I mouthed the words as she said it.

      A woman needs to be prepared. She saw me mouthing her words and whacked me on the arm. Behave, or you can sleep with the fishes.

      That's only if you bump me off. Besides the ship is going to be full of murderous writers, who will be hanging on my every word. I am the king of the crime writers now.

      How are you going to get out the door with that head? She asked.

      I ignored her and went into the kitchen to get a bite to eat, I yelled to her asking if Willy had been fed, she said to feed him. I made a tuna sandwich on toasted Kaiser roll and poured Willy a bowl of kibbles. I came back out to the living room and sat watching Penny try to organize her wardrobe.

      So why did they choose you to speak at this convention and who are these people, will I like them? She fired the questions at me.

      I was asked because someone had taken ill and couldn't speak, they saw my movie and read my book and wanted me to fill in. These people, as you call them, are all writers of books about crime, murder and horror stories, you know the gory satanic ritual types, full of werewolves and vampires. Big business now days, anything with a vampire is a big seller. They should rewrite the classics so kids would read them. You know, turn David Copperfield into a vampire, kids would eat the book up.

      Why would you turn a magician into a vampire? She grinned.

      Not the magician David Copperfield, the book by Dickens of the same name. You knew that, you just wanted to annoy me, I said.

      Yes, they could turn Scrooge into a vampire and he could suck the life out of Bob Cratchett and Tiny Tim, she offered.

      The dead singer with the Ukulele? I asked.

      Now you’re mocking me, not that Tiny Tim. Wow, I almost forgot about him, she laughed.

      I'm always surprised when I hear some old celebrity has passed on, and I didn't even know they were still alive, I replied.

      Yes, they'll say the same for you some day. She went off to the bedroom again.

      I yelled, Did you leave any suitcases for me to pack?

      Yes, there's one on the snack bar, she yelled back.

      I looked over and saw one of those carry-on bags, barely big enough to pack a couple shirts and pants. Penny came back out and I said I was going shopping. She asked for what, I said new luggage for me. She made a face and said we didn't need any more luggage.

      I replied, "Yes, we have enough,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1