Murder on the Med

June 07, 2024

Murder on the Med

Murder on the Med: A Kat Lawson Mystery
by

Nancy Cole Silverman

About Murder on the Med

Murder on the Med: A Kat Lawson Mystery
Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – On a cruise ship in the Mediterranean
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Level Best Books (June 4, 2024)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 271 pages
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D2K1BLGL

A travel feature turns into a deadly investigation for Kat Lawson when she discovers a missing passenger, presumed overboard, may have been used as a mule to smuggle ancient artifacts aboard Athena, a luxury cruise ship designed for retired seniors at sea.

Kat Lawson has got a plumb assignment, or so she thinks. Travel International has rewarded her with a vacation cruise along the Amalfi Coast to report on a new floating senior retirement center. After working undercover as a travel reporter for the FBI and barely escaping her last assignment with her life, Kat’s job is to relax, take notes, shoot pictures, and report back on an extravagant cruise from Napes to Positano. What could go wrong?

But once aboard, Kat quickly learns it’s not all smooth sailing. Kat finds a handbag for Dede Drummerhausen, the woman who owns the suite where Kat is staying, and hidden inside is a gold coin. Rumor abound. Passengers and some of their possessions have gone missing. The residents are restless, and some on board are suspicious of a travel reporter who might uncover their secret mission. When Athena’s captain discovers Kat snooping below deck, she soon realizes, like the antiquities hidden onboard, that she’s been kidnapped and that her job and her life are in danger.

About Nancy Cole Silverman

Nancy Cole Silverman spent nearly twenty-five years in news and talk radio before retiring to write fiction. Silverman’s award-winning short stories and crime-focused novels, the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries (Henry Press), are based in Los Angeles, while her newest series, the Kat Lawson Mysteries (Level Best Books), takes a more international approach. Kat Lawson, a former investigative reporter has gone undercover for the FBI as a feature writer for a travel publication. Expect lots of international intrigue, vivid descriptions of small European villages, great food, lost archives, and non-stop action. Silverman lives in Los Angeles with her husband and thoroughly pampered standard poodle, Paris.

Q&A With the Author:

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

I was finishing up Passport to Spy, book 2 of the Kat Lawson mysteries, during the Covid shutdown, and my husband and I were watching Let Them All Talk with Meryl Streep on TV. Streep plays a writer who has been asked to come from NY to London to accept an award, and she doesn’t want to fly. Instead, her manager arranges for her to travel across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2 with a group of friends.

I didn’t think it was one of Meryl Streep’s best movies, but I was blown away by what I think was the real star of the movie; the Queen Mary 2, and I couldn’t wait for the movie to end so that I could go online and find out when she was sailing again, and how soon my husband and I could get on board.

It took about a year, and it was well worth the wait.

We must have been among the first back on board after the shutdown and we sailed from Brooklyn to South Hampton, England in seven, absolutely delightful days. The correct term by the way is, ‘crossing,’ and we were like little kids, so excited to be on this grand ship on our very first trans-Atlantic voyage. It was like going back in time, where people dressed for dinner, played shuffleboard on deck, and dined extravagantly.

I introduced myself to the captain and talked myself into a private tour from the bowels to the bridge and used a lot of information I learned about sailing in Murder on the Med.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

Without a doubt, the research. Everything from the design of the Queen Mary 2 to the ancient Silk Highway across the Mediterranean. There were so many short story facts I was able to include in the book that I felt made it not only entertaining but factual.

Do you have any other books you are working on that you can tell us about?

The Kat Lawson series continues and I’m currently working on book four, which takes place in Vietnam.

Can you tell us about what you have planned for the future?

Currently, I have a contract for 3 more Kat Lawson books, and I’m busy writing and researching.

Anything more you would like to say to your readers and fans?

When I write, I try to imagine myself informing my readers as well as entertaining them. My goal is to bring them joy in learning about something real they may not have known happened, and to embrace it.