Sunshine, Sangria, and Scandal by Wendy Day

This is the third book in the Sally and Pearl mystery series but I didn't feel like I was missing much. We get glimpses into the first two books as the two go on a true crime podcast before they decide they need to escape winter and find someplace sunny to be. A cruise seems like the perfect option. 

At dinner, Sally and Pearl are seated with a group of real estate agents who are all on the trip because they excel at their jobs. We get sketches of all of them but one of the standouts is Eddie. We learn more about the man as he works his way into winning the "Sexiest Man on Board" contest and seemingly playing the field though one of the other agents, Amber, seems might interested in him. He wins an amazing amount of money in the shipboard casino which is given to him in cash. Of course, he will be the one to end up dead. But why? Pearl and Sally decide to dig into the mystery. 

These two are an interesting pair with Sally's anxiety about any number of things from ordering food to having nothing to do. Pearl tends to be more of a bulldozer who clips her Gs (annoying to read, by the way) and tries to avoid the advances of Malcolm, another of the realtors. 

It was an interesting story but may not be a series I continue. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 9, 2023

Follows Christmas, Cabernet, and Chaos

ARC kindly provided by Open Sky Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own