Dangerous Paradise — Louise Bergstrom

The itinerary of the M.V. Tangaroa's cruise beckoned alluringly: Tongatabu, Upolu, Rarotonga, Pago Pago, Tahiti. Names both mysterious and romantic, exotic and primitive. And to Elizabeth Ballard they also offered a respite from her grief over the recent death of her writer father. What could be more soothing to shattered nerves, Elizabeth thought, that a winter cruise to the South Pacific?

On the first night of the ten-day cruise Elizabeth was aware of a sinister atmosphere -- "vibrations," she called it -- in the Gran Salon while the beautiful Francesca Valli sang one of her numbers. It was as if a deep, burning concentration of attention were being transferred from one person to another. Elizabeth looked around the room but saw nothing to verify her feeling. Glasses tinkled and conversation hummed. A handsome blond man in a white uniform seated a few tables away glanced casually at Elizabeth from time to time, spurring her interest in him. She wondered why such an attractive man would notice someone as ordinary looking -- in her opinion -- as she.

Soon after Elizabeth learned that Kris Angborn was the ship's doctor; she also learned that Kris had known Francesca for some time and that, unhappily for Elizabeth, the singer was in love with him. But what Elizabeth feared would be a difficult romantic triangle as the Tangaroa wended its way through the South Seas turned into a nightmare voyage when Francesca's leap overboard looked to Elizabeth less like suicide and more like murder.