Book description from the publisher:
Jessica’s much-deserved cruise becomes a working vacation when her friend Kathy tags along, hoping to locate her sister Wilimena, who vanished from the same vessel. Distantly related to Alaska’s most famous madam-a woman who may have struck it rich during the Gold Rush-Wilimena apparently took the cruise to find the treasure. Now, as Jessica and Kathy investigate Wilimena’s disappearance, they learn that she was quite outspoken about her gold claim-and may have attracted the wrong kind of attention. And now that attention has been turned on Jessica and Kathy.
Realistic description courtesy of moi:
Jessica Fletcher cannot pass up an opportunity to be the center of attention so she reluctantly agrees to allow her friend, Kathy, to accompany her on a cruise to search for her Kathy’s missing sexually promiscuous sister. Strangely enough, her sexually promiscuous sister went missing while looking for the hidden gold left by her sexually promiscuous distant relative. Jessica mentions Cabot Cove as much as possible and harasses cruisers for information. When the cruise security officer becomes annoyed about the harassment, Jessica places him on her suspect list. Kathy becomes quickly involved with a fellow voyager and works very hard to suppress her sexually promiscuous lineage with this handsome stranger. Shockingly, we later find out that his quick love advances were not for good. In the meantime, Jessica tampers with many crime scenes and the police chuckle at her curiosity as if they were dealing with a child investigating a fictitious crime scene…oh, wait. In the end, Jessica gets all the credit. I wonder if I said sexually promiscuous enough?
Seriously though, if you have read any of the Murder, She Wrote books you will know that they are unintentionally comical and that is what makes them so great. These books are perfect for a light, no pressure read. As annoying as Jessica Fletcher is, you will grow to love her and her ability to take over police investigations while insisting that solving mysteries is just a silly hobby of hers. She is nosy, overly polite, and every law officer that she runs into will grant her more leniency than if the President of the United States showed up to have a look-see. She talks constantly of her home in Cabot Cove, Maine and how wonderful it is. Trust her, watching whales in their natural habitat in Alaska has nothing on the donut shop in Cabot Cove. Jessica also makes it a point of mentioning that she does not drive to anyone who will listen, but she is able to guide a flaming plane to safety in a hurricane.
All hilarity aside, this book wasn’t anything unusual compared to the others in this series but I also did not find it overly thrilling. Readers will probably miss the usual Cabot Cove characters as they are left at home for this cruise adventure. Her friend Kathy is annoying at best and her need for assurance from Jessica quickly becomes old. Even Jessica seems tired of the whole situation at times. An Alaskan cruise really should have warranted some vivid and exciting description but the book focuses mainly on the relatively shallow characters. I, for one, hope to never hear about Kathy’s personal problems in any future books. While Panning for Murder was an entertaining read, I would definitely recommend most of the other editions in this series over this particular one.
