Yearning for peace and quiet with her partner, Derek, Andorra Pett heads home to the space mine off Saturn. It’s been a while since she left, she wants to be among her friends again.
Despite her good intentions, she soon gets dragged in station politics, so it’s a relief when the chance of a holiday comes up.
All she has to do is give a speech on the maiden voyage of the Solar Breeze, a new type of cruise ship. A voyage around the solar system will soon be the must-have vacation. Andorra will be one of the first to try it, along with the great and the good.
But nothing is ever simple in Andorra’s life. Things get really serious when the Solar Breeze is hijacked by eco-terrorists. They want an end to the dumping of rubbish on Mars.
Or else!
Andorra’s trip on the Solar Breeze might just be the voyage of a lifetime.

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.

Richard Dee returns with Andorra Pett Takes a Break, the fourth full-length novel in the cosy crime series. Following her escapades back on Earth with her older sister, Andi is back on the space station close to the rings of Saturn. Ready for some much-needed rest, she cannot wait to return to the Oort Cloud Cafe, her friend Cy and her partner Derek. But with senior members of the OLC aboard to hash out contract negotiations with the miners, things are as busy as ever. When an opportunity for a free trip around the Sun on the latest cruise liner comes up, it’s too good an opportunity to take some time out with Derek and relax. But as is always the case when Andi is involved, nothing runs smoothly for long.

Having read the previous novels in the series, returning for a fourth is very comforting. I know I can settle down and have finished the story in a few sittings. It’s like returning to something comfortable and so familiar. I love returning to characters I now feel I know so well. A sub-cast of new characters are handled fantastically well. I felt myself rooting for or against these, which I feel is testament to Richard Dee’s ability to create characters with depth, that are believable, and yet not need to labour on it over the course of an entire series.

With a cosy crime, there needs to be plenty of mystery and intrigue. There has to be some malevolent force bent on committing misdeeds somewhere down the line. And it has to be easy-reading, entertaining and fun to pick up in my opinion. Sometimes, as a series draws on, it begins to feel like the same tropes and cliches come to the fore, or that the writer is struggling for new ideas to keep things fresh. Thus far, Richard Dee has not suffered this problem. The story is brilliant. The unconventional crime-fighting style of Andi and her cohorts remains as entertaining as ever, if not more so. In past reads, Andi has ended up walking into situations through trying to help people out. It’s in her nature. This time out, I loved the way that even in giving her a holiday, Dee has found a new way into having her stroll right into trouble without even knowing it.

With each subsequent book in the Andorra Pett series, things keep improving. The characters grow, the new characters are interesting and the stories keep me entertained. Already I am looking forward to the arrival of the next book, though not so much at having to wait until 2021 for it!

My rating: