Just Add Water - Jinx Schwartz, Author

‘Picking up my ballpoint, I filled in under SAILING EXPERIENCE, Caribbean, Mediterranean, and trans-Pacific.  I left out the fact that all of this cognitive content was gained on cruise ships the size of small cities.  The next question was easy.  WHY DO YOU WANT TO LEARN TO SAIL?  It is against my nature to answer this type of question with any honesty, but I thought, what the hey? And wrote:  Meet new people.  Learn a skill.  Find a mate.’

Being as honest as possible, Hetta Coffee fills out her application for sailing lessons being given by the Gay Nineties Sailing Club.  The whole idea of learning to sail was Hetta’s  and she actually convinced her best friend Jan that it is the perfect way to meet men.  In fact, Jan set up the lessons.  Hetta wished she had paid attention to the actual name of the club.  So, after 4 hours on board a sailing vessel made up of all women, both Hetta and Jan decided they just might need to find another club to learn their new skill through. 

Hetta’s pricy home, complete with dog playground and trap door, sits among homes owned by several of the NBA players.  It’s large but has become quite costly, plus Hetta soon finds out that someone has found access into her home and is apparently searching for something.  And she’s pretty sure she knows what they are searching for and even who the intruder might be.  Five years earlier she was given a key to a bottle club in Tokyo.  A bottle club is a lounge that rents you a locker allowing you to store your own drinking preference to be enjoyed whenever you are in town.  But when her one and only suspect turns up as a floater in her own hot tub, she decides she has had enough and should move on.  So when the owner of the “Sea Cock” makes her an offer she can’t pass up, she sells her home and buys herself a yacht.  But as I’m sure you can guess, the troubles don’t stop there.

Just Add Water has been a joy to read.  Jinx Schwartz’ style of writing includes a good murder mystery, a lot of suspense, many suspects and a ton of humor.  This is such an enjoyable light mystery read.

2006

WhoooDoo Mysteries

341 pages

ISBN# 1-932695-20-6