Nicki Greenberg, The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel, Affirm Press, February 2021, 128 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922400673
I expected to enjoy this book, it was shortlisted in the 2022 CBCA Book of the Year Younger Readers category. What I didn’t expect was to be thoroughly engaged and entertained by The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel.
The Detective’s Guide tells the story of Pepper Stark, the daughter of Captain Stark the captain of the magnificent RMS Aquitania, a luxury ocean liner. Through tragic circumstances Pepper lost her mother at a very young age. As a thirteen-year-old Pepper manages to convince her father to take her on one of his voyages. Amidst the luxury of first-class travel Pepper meets a variety of characters including hustlers, movie stars, world-class chefs and second- and third-class passengers. And the stage is set for drama. There is the drama created by an onboard reporter who seems to have it out for Pepper’s father. There is the drama between Pepper and her father caused largely by their shared grief. There is the drama of passengers who aren’t who they seem to be. Finally, there is the drama of an American starlet who has a priceless gem, the Saffron diamond, stolen.
Pepper and her new friends, Toby, Norah, and Sol decide to solve this last drama, each for their own reasons. What follows is an adventure with more twists and turns than one would think possible in 311 pages. Red herrings abound and as I neared the end I actually feared that the drama wouldn’t be resolved. Finally, though the mystery is solved, and everything is neatly wrapped up with the requisite happy ending. However, credit to the author Nicki Greenberg, many of the other cliches of this genre are avoided and many difficult topics are introduced and handled sensitively. For example, the difference between the different classes of passengers and their treatment aboard a luxury liner is not glossed over. The impact of grief and loss on a spouse and child and their relationship is tackled in a forthright manner. There’s even a gentle nudge to look at the societal expectations of men and women. This is what hooked me as a reader and at times had me forgetting that I was reading a book intended for readers much younger than myself.
The Aquitania was a real ship, a transatlantic liner, taking passengers from England to America. The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel provides a peek into life a century ago aboard one of the Titanic’s contemporaries.
I would highly recommend The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel to mature young readers (and adults) who love a good mystery. A second adventure involving Pepper and her friends is now published, The Detective’s Guide to New York City.
Reviewed by Anne Varnes
