by Sue Henry (Author)

A Book Review by Jackie Houchin

   DEATH TAKES PASSAGE by Sue Henry is one of  three of her Trooper Alex Jensen Alaska Mysteries (She has written many more with Jessie Arnold as main character, i.e. MURDER ON THE IDITAROD TRAIL). 

I especially wanted to read this one because the setting is the “Inside Passage” along Alaska and Canada that many cruise ships follow, and I will be on one in September. The story begins in Skagway and the SS Portland docks in Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan before making its way to Seattle.  The cruise is the “TON OF GOLD” Klondike Gold Rush Centennial Reenactment, and many celebriities, decendents of the original gold minors, dignitaries, interested people, Jessie Arnold and Alex Jensen (in costume), and…14 boxes of Gold Nuggets are on board!.

We meet several of the travelers the first night when they are docket at Skagway. Fun lovers, history lovers in costume, a few strange people, and captain and crew (a little over 100 passengers in all)  And then the cruise begins. And strange things begin to happen. Items are missing from some of the staterrooms, some very valuable, some only of sentimental value. Alex slips into Trooper mode and questions a few people. Other strange things happen and he discovers that a lot of last minute crew changes took place just before sailing.

Then a crew memeber is lost overboard, and another body is found floating by. EEEK!! Secrets are discovered, a couple men are beaten up, and some of the missing items are returned. (huh?).

Oh, and in a side plot, a man and his fumbling old partner steal a sail boat and meet up with some bad guys. You just know they will come into the main picture later.  It’s an exciting complicated plot with seemingly random things happening. I – along with Alex and Jessie – was wondering at times what in the world was happeing.  But then the author quickly pulls it all together in a  super suspensful and action-packed night aboard the ship, with – hey, you knew it, right – the gold being a major factor.

It was a fun book to read (especially looking forward to my cruise) but also to try to figure out all the players – good and bad – and the twists of the plot.  Yes, I think I will read some more of Sue Henry’s Alaska books.

FOUR STARS

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