Hampton Charles - Miss Seeton at the Helm

The seventh book in the Miss Seeton series, published September 1, 1990.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: bad, I much prefer my Dutch covers



Retired art teacher Miss Seeton steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles. This time, the lovable but unlikely detective is off to the Mediterranean on a cruise - bound for disaster.


Sir George Colveden is taking his wife Meg on a Mediterraean cruise for their 25th wedding anniversary, at the suggestion of his friend Sir Wormelow Tump. It is a cruise that will lead them along countless ruins and ancient artefacts, and not something Sir George fancies himself, but he knows his wife will enjoy it. Sir Wormelow is one of the guest speakers on board. But when Sir George finds out that their other friend Ferenz Szabo has legal troubles with one of the other guest speakers, Adrian Witley, he immediately plans to take matters in his own hands, or rather, Scotland Yard's hands, by having Miss Seeton invited along the cruise as well. He is sure she will find out more about Adrian Witley, and if he is indeed a fraud.
Of course, putting Miss Seeton in an unfamiliar situation is sure to cause a lot of trouble…


I still have trouble with how Hampton Charles portrayes the characters I came to enjoy in the first five books, written by Heron Carvic. He makes caricatures of them, making Sir George be more stupid, and Miss Seeton less innocent and lovable, an older lady getting involved in strange situations purely by accident. And what he did with Inspector Delphick in this book, no, I want to think that the original Inspector has more integrity than that. Also, the dialogue is just not very good, and he focuses on ladies bodies a bit too much.

Still, the story is entertaining, and I know I will read the rest of the series fast. The one thing that is still unclear to me, is who the real killer was?

5 stars out of 10.

© 2016 Reviews by Aurian