It has been a couple of years since I have read other Tressa Turner/Calamity Jayne stories. I enjoyed the return to the silliness and snark, to the overtop situations Tressa manages to meddle in and out of. Enjoyed! ( )

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Nov08

Kathleen Bacus’ latest Calamity Jane novel is “Anchors Aweigh”. This time Tressa’s on the trail of a potential killer while stuck on a ship with both of her ‘men’ vying for her heart. And it that wasn’t enough, she doesn’t even have the fabled cruise food to life her spirits, it’s a health cruise! No chocolate or fat grams anywhere to be found. It’s enough to drive a girl mad.

On the first day of the cruise Tressa overhears a murder plot. Being Tressa, that’s like catnip to kitten and she’s off. When she’s pushed down some stairs, Tessa figures out her questions made somebody nervous and decides to fake amnesia. Now she’s trying to fool her family, her suitors, and her suspects; all while tracking down the potential victim!

On the plus side, Bacus has written a very intricately plotted murder mystery without the violence of a victim. There are plenty of suspects and red herrings abound. The setting provides its own clues and even veteran cruisers will surely get a kick of Tressa’s take on cruise activities. The cast of secondary characters is just as entertaining as the leads and the banter between all the characters is snappy and energetic.

Now for the minus, my biggest issue with Bacus’ humor is that, to me, it feels juvenile. It’s heavy-handed and unrelenting and it just about sucked all my enjoyment out of the story. While I normally don’t have any problems with stories written in the first person, this one was very difficult for me to follow. I felt left out when trying to understand the actions of some of the other characters, simply because I only had Tressa’s take on the issues.

For good or bad, “Anchors Aweigh” was hard for me to finish and that took away from my reading pleasure and my interest in the story. Kathleen Bacus’ wit just doesn’t resound with me. Ah well, different strokes for different folks. ( )