A Cruise to Die For

An Alix London Mystery, Book 2

By: Charlotte Elkins, Aaron Elkins

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

This should be the cushiest job Alix London's ever had.

The second Alix London Mystery finds the art restorer in a world brimming with idle luxury, spectacular locations, and deadly intrigue.

Surrounded by art and wealth and the sun-drenched Greek isles, she's aboard a sumptuous mega-yacht with no responsibilities save the occasional lecture to the guests of her temporary employer, Panos Papadakis, one of the world's richest men. But there's a catch: Papadakis has long been suspected of being at the center of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme and Alix is actually there as an undercover operative of FBI special agent Ted Ellesworth, a member of the Bureau's Art Crime Team. They hope Alix can gather the inside information they need to finally put the cagey Papadakis away.

Alix's exposure to the enormous wealth of high-end collectors and the shadier aspects of the art trade - the avarice, naked greed, and ingenious scams - somehow brings her closer to her charming, "reformed" rogue of a father, and helps crystalize in her own mind just where she fits into the mix.

Moguls, murders, a forged Manet, and the Albanian mafia all play a role and send this pleasure cruise into brutally dangerous waters.

Set on the Aegean - Homer's fabled "wine-dark sea" - with stops at enchanted islands where ancient legends still live, A Cruise to Die For delivers a witty blend of suspense and mystery, as well as an insider's take on the contemporary art world and its eccentric characters. It's all served up with the style and sophistication with which Charlotte and Aaron Elkins have rewarded mystery listeners for the past 30 years.

©2013 Charlotte and Aaron Elkins (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Charming Art Mystery

I really enjoy these books. The background of art forgery and the characters are great! I look forward to listening to all of them!

The narrator is excellent. She handles men's and women's voices, as well as a diverse array of accents and artist and artwork names. Great job!

I highly recommend these mysteries to art lovers and mystery lovers. Really interesting and informative books!

Enjoyable

This second installment in the series is even more enjoyable than the first, with many tidbits about art and the area around Greece. The narrator is a wonderful reader and does voices well, but her English accent falls short and mispronunciation of several words should have been caught by an editor. These are small distractions from a pleasant tale, though.

Hard to start

The beginning was a bit painful, mostly due to the narrator. But after a while it settled down and became a standard mystery.

too much of book 1 included in book 2.

Convoluted story line, the ending didn't make much sense to me. I love series books and the art aspect of this series but am reluctant to get the third book.

What a fun exotic mystery.

Charlotte and Aaron Elkins (husband & wife team) have created a wonderful art world mystery with characters you love (except the bad guys, of course) and a
gorgeous super posh setting aboard a mega yacht in the beautiful Aegean Sea among the Greece islands. (Bracketed by brief times in New York and DC.)

Alex, daughter of a famous art forger - who's paid for his crime with 8 years in prison - and who is an art expert in her own right and can spot a forgery at a single glance, has been asked by the FBI to attend a week long art auction on the above yacht, owned by a super rich Greek dealer in Old World art. She is to observe and report on the art as well on the wealthy patrons on board. That's all.

But she is barely on board before she identifies the first painting she sees - a Manet - as a forgery. Amateur sleuth that she is, she expresses her opinion to the crowd. It's not long before she is attacked and the painting slashed. Who did each? And why?

As she gets to know and like the fellow cruisers a astonishing secret operation is revealed.

The climax is action packed, with Alex literally in the middle with her life in dire danger.

When all the pieces are later sorted, she is astonished at the evil, and the getting away with crime. At the very end, back home in New York she receives an even over-the-top grand surprise that will have readers cheering and maybe weeping for joy. I kid you not!

An okay short story padded with hours of verbiage

This is the second book in the Alix London series and a definite step down from the opening book. I like the writing style of these authors, but large swathes of this book seemed to be filler that didn’t hold my interest or contribute to the story. In the end, there was a mystery and even some action, but really this book could have been edited down by half without losing anything. Speaking of editing, other reviewers are correct that there is a glaring editing error near the end, but it didn’t affect my rating as it could have been fixed very quickly and easily. It is sloppy but you can easily make the corrections in your imagination and the story holds together. All in all, if this was my first read of the series, it would be one and done, but I did enjoy the first book so I’ll continue.

Good fun

Alix London is back. This time the young art restorer is working as an undercover consultant for the FBI. What starts out as a mission to just keep her eyes open turns into a serious affair involving theft, murder, and forgery. All in a day's work for our intrepid art expert.

Free business tycoon Panos Papadakis is holding an exclusive art auction aboard his luxury yacht. He plans to sell off a few of his personal paintings and has invited a few of his personal friends to join him on the cruise. He has also invited Alix London along as an art expert to make the trip more informative. Unknown to Panos Alix is there at the request of the FBI. They want her to keep her ears open for any shady financial dealings that Panos may be involved in. Her job quickly becomes complicated when she begins to doubt the authenticity of one of the paintings. Alix has learned to trust to her instincts when it comes to art, but will they serve her well when dealing with people who will stop at nothing, including murder?

The Art Whisperer is the second book in the Alix London series by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins. The book is a lighthearted mystery and is a lot of fun. The characters are enjoyable and the pacing is quite nice. This is a perfect book to take along to the beach or to just curl up with.

Fun and light

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, for any friend that wants a pleasant, silly thriller/mystery read/listen.

Who was your favorite character and why?

All the characters are well formed, but Alix is very relatable for an art expert, which makes the book easy to get into.

What three words best describe Kate Rudd’s voice?

Light, easy to listen to, melodious.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did - it was great background noise for household chores.

Any additional comments?

The narrator really needs to brush up on her pronunciation of some more obscure words. Alix, a well-bred, well-travelled art expert would never pronounce "Lyons" as Lions. Or rapprochement as REproachment. It happened just often enough to grate. She nailed the pronunciations of all the artists and artwork, which is why is stood out.

Albania, Aegean, Art and Alix

Alix London returns in Book 2, assigned as undercover op for the FBI to take an art cruise on the Aegean Sea with high roller, self-absorbed Panos Papadakis, long suspected of running a Ponzi scheme, selling off stakes on his expensive art works . . . but no sooner than Alix boards the ship, she notices that the prize of the upcoming art auction, a Manet, is a fake . . . the deeper she gets, the more dangerous . . . and soon FBI special agent Ted Ellesworth joins her on the cruise, unexpectedly . . . and the sparks fly in more ways than one . . . fun, interesting and different . . . looking forward to Book 3!

Great fun!

Another intriguing adventure by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins. The armchair traveler in me is thoroughly satisfied.