THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGONFRUIT TATTOO is the third book in the Tropical Island Cozy Mystery series by Carrie Doyle.
The book is as fun as the cover suggests, it almost makes fun of the cozy mystery genre with it’s over-the-top characters but it does so in a warm hearted way.
The sleuth is New York transplant, Plum Lockhart, who usually lives and works at her villa rental company on the fictional Caribbean island of Paraiso. The setting is fabulous and takes you to a tropical dream getaway - this time spent island hopping on a billionaire’s yacht with the rich and famous. Except, there seems to be a murderer aboard and one of the yacht’s employees is the victim. Plum finagles an invitation and the Paraisoan police sends her undercover to find the culprit.
Plum is reminiscent of Agatha Raisin in her abrasive behavior and style of investigating. This is by no means a realistic police procedural - this is meant to be an over the top fun escapist story -a perfect beach read - and as such it delivers !

The audio narrated by Elizabeth Cottle does a great job at setting the scene and capturing Plum Lockhart’s voice and attitude - this was fun !

I was provided with an advance audio, thanks to @NetGalley and @DreamscapeMedia.

I love this book! I’m not personally a huge fan of audio books but really got into listening to this one. I loved that this hit every angle, live connection, passion, mystery and murder. Great book over all and have already recommended it to a few people!

This one was fluffy and fun but just didn't hold my interest. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did.

The Girl with the Dragonfruit Tattoo is a murder mystery/ romance story that follows the gorgeous plum while aboard a luxury boat.
A serious crush, a body washed up on the beach, and boat load of suspects, can plum uncover the murderer and make it back to the safety of her crush Juan Kevin.
I wasn’t too sure about this book to be honest and in my spree of reading I didn’t re-read the blurb so I kinda went in dark haha! Once I had submerged myself into the story it was a really quick and easy day listen. Thanks NetGalley and Dreamscape media ♥️

What a fun and cute murder mystery! This was my first book by her and I was coming into a series but I didn’t really feel like I was too far behind not reading the other two books. It’s a lighthearted murder mystery with a cast of flawed and crazy characters. I was left guessing till the end who did it! I really enjoyed the narration and thought she was easy to listen to and made the book more fun.

This was an adorable cozy mystery!

Taking place on a yacht in the Caribbean, there’s an accidental death…or was it murder? Combined with turtle egg thievery, Plum is called in to help solve yet another case on an idyllic island.

Early on, I had an inkling about who the villain was, but there was doubt (and SO MANY suspects who realistically could have done it!) by 85%, I still didn’t know for sure—and was both surprised and not surprised at the final reveal. Lots of twists!

I loved so many of the characters—just like in real life, everyone is hiding something!

Pick this up (or listen to it, the audio is excellent and suitable for generally all ages) if you want a fun summery cozy mystery!

This is the third book in a cozy mystery series. Plum is recruited by the local police to help investigate a murder that occurred on a yacht being rented by her friend’s husband.

this was a loaded book. They all had a reason for killing the victims however there is usually just one or two that really did it. Who are the two best suspects and are you correct? well you will just have to read this murder-mystery that can be read by all ages. .

The synopsis & the beginning of the book are quite promising. But somehow, the story lost me with all its side plots even before the real mystery began.

For one, the romance between the main character and the other character? I'm not buying it. Also, the guy is still married and no "single in my mind" dialogue could make that relationship okay in my head. And you don't get to justify it by saying the wife cheated anyway.

Plus, for a character who's very proud, even with the police, about her sloothing, she's not very good. She's clueless at about 80% of the book. And with all the questioning and sneaking around, she figured out nothing. The only reason that she figured everything out was by (SPOILER) reading the victim's diary? Like, really?

All in all, I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book, but it's not it for me. It has too many side stories that got miraculously solved in the end, even the mystery and the resolution is not that satisfying. I kinda expected more from this book and I would be lying if I said this didn't let me down.

The Girl with the Dragon Fruit Tattoo is the third mystery in the Trouble in Paradise! series. When Plum Lockhart is pulled into another murder investigation, she goes undercover aboard a yacht.

This is the first mystery in this series that I have read and I feel like I may have missed out on a little by not starting at the beginning of the series. I just couldn’t get into this mystery that much and I didn’t connect with the characters. The mystery did keep me guessing until the end and there were moments when I started to get intrigued by the story, but then it fell flat for me again. I think the biggest problem for me was that I didn’t like any of the characters, especially Plum, and when you don’t like the main character it’s hard to get into the book. Overall, for me, this was an okay mystery with characters that weren’t for me. There are plenty of good reviews for this book, so maybe my downfall was not realizing that this was part of a series and not starting from the beginning.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an audiobook copy of this book!

This was a quick listen that ended up being basically what I was expecting. I did find the writing to be very YA at some times which made it a little cringy to me.

I really tried hard to get into this since it was an audiobook arc but I did not like the choice of narrator for one which made the hard to love FMC even harder to connect with. I didn’t enjoy any of the side characters either, I knew this would be a cheese tropical murder mystery however jt really fell flat.

This book had some of the most enjoyable characters I’ve had in a while. That said, it is somewhat disconcerting to read lightly about death. I know it is a popular sub genre, but it is always unbalanced for me. The death of someone working on a yacht allows for some nicely described settings. Overall, this was OK to read. I probably won’t think about it much after writing this review. It was, however, a fun interlude.

I realized I had the audiobook just a few days ago, so I listened. Glad I didn’t listen first. The narrator made it much more shallow than it was in my own voice.

3.75 stars. This was a very cute tropical mystery. I enjoyed the twists and turns and did not see the killer coming. I enjoyed the setting and the tropical vibes. I did not enjoy the characters though you really aren’t supposed to. The audiobook was well narrated but the narrator seemed to struggle with a couple of the accents.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the arc copy.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, and Carrie Doyle for an advance copy of The Girl With the DragonFruit Tattoo in exchange for an honest review. What a fun little cozy mystery!! I didnt realize this was a series but this can definitely be read as a standalone. I loved getting to know our main character, Plum, as she attempted to solve a murder on a yacht. I always appreciate a light hearted, fun mystery and this book provided just that. The narrator did a great job keeping me invested in the story. This one is out 2.28.23!!

Plum’s friend Ellen is in town and she’s invited to go onto a yacht with superstars and the wealthy. During her dinner Plum ends up talking about solving murders. One of the staff overhears this and speaks to Plum letting her know that she needs help with a crime. Soon there is a mystery to solve and a murderer to be caught.

This was a quick and fun read. I didn’t realize that this was a serial, but I‘m definitely thinking about reading the others.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy.

3🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 29/100
💫Genre: Mystery/Thriller
🎧ARC🎧
Narrated by:
Elizabeth Cottle
✨✨✨
This was a who-dun-it murder mystery which I didn’t realize was part of a series (it could totally be a standalone either way). All is good until the girl with the dragonfruit tattoo washes up to shore…dead! This was a fun quick read, and the narration was great…especially the accents…they had me giggling at times! The tropical island and yacht setting was what made it a cozy read for me. It had a slow start but the further Plum dug the better it got!
✨✨✨
📌Publishing Date:
February 28, 2023
💫Thank you @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for this enjoyable read in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Pressfor an audiobook ARC of The Girl With the Dragonfruit Tattoo in return for my honest review.

After moving away from the chilly world of New York publishing, Plum Lockhart is settling into her new life on the tropical island of Paraiso. That is until Plum happens to find herself tangled up in YET another pesky murder investigation 🤷‍♀️

In the third instalment of the Trouble in Paradise! series, Plum goes undercover to solve a murder on a yacht filled with the rich and famous.

I liked the idea of an easy cheesy tropical murder mystery. But if you’ve ever heard of ‘purple prose’, this book is a perfect example…Katie conceded as she cautiously situated her cracked Apple iPhone on the white oak mid century modern nightstand, disconcerted at the mountain of books that she had procured from colossal chain book stores and rummaging through dusty atheneums. 🤦‍♀️🙄🤣

If it wasn’t an ARC, this might have been a DNF for me. It helped that I could listen to it at 2x speed.

👍 What I liked…
- Light and breezy murder mystery
- Many suspects with multiple motives
- Easy listening while running errands
- Tropical location
- The narrator: not many people can pull off Spanish, French, Australian and English accents. This was a fair effort!

👎 What didn’t work for me…
- Thesaurus abuse!
- Unrealistic dialogue. Unless I’m the only one who doesn’t ‘procure their groceries’? 🤭
- Entitled protagonist and unlikeable side characters

Read this if you like…
🔍 Playing detective
🕵️‍♀️ Hercule Poirot style multi-suspect investigations
🚪 Closed door murder mysteries
🏝️ Tropical locations
🧀 A little cheesy

The Girl with the Dragonfruit Tattoo is the third novel in the Trouble in Paradise series. When I requested this novel, I do not recall knowing that it was part of a series, so I had to alter my expectations a little when I found out it was the third story with the same set of characters. It reminded me of an Agatha Christie type mystery meets a little bit of Scooby Doo-type over-the-top-ness. The story follows Plum Lockhart who is opening her villa rental company on the tropical island of Paraiso. While on a yacht Plum meets stewardess Lysette, who soon winds up dead. Soon, Plum finds herself on a mission to find the killer before they can kill again.

Plum has previously solved a few murders which leads the police to let her be involved in this new mystery aboard the yacht. As the yacht is chartered by Plum’s old friend Ellen, it serves as the perfect reason for Plum to remain on board to work the case undercover. In addition to solving the murder, the story begins before the incident with introducing Plum’s latest venture with her company. She also is navigating a new relationship with Juan Kevin Munoz, the love interest in this story, who is the director of security at Las Frutas Resort. While there are some mentions of these two plotlines, once Plum begins the investigation, these do not get a lot of attention.

Since I missed the first two novels in the series, I was missing some background with the characters; however, the story was easy enough to understand on its own. The characters themselves are not very likable, but, as a reader, you still feel compelled to get to know them. The story itself reads a little over-the-top at times without a lot of depth, so it was a nice cozy mystery. I enjoyed the yacht setting as Plum attempts to solve the mystery. The killer was not difficult to guess, but it was not straight-forward either, which is what I like about cozy mysteries. The writing itself was a little slow in the beginning, but once it picked up around the 30ish percent mark, it was intriguing from start to finish. Overall, this was a fun story, although I would have preferred a little more depth to feel more connected to it.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed are completely my own.**

Book Title: The Girl with the DragonFruit Tattoo
Series: Trouble in Paradise #3
Author: Carrie Doyle
Narrator: Elizabeth Cottle
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: February 28, 2023
My Rating: 3.2 Stars

Plum Lockhart who has settled into island life on Paraiso in the Caribbean. Her villa rental company “Plum Lockhart Luxury Retreats” is growing plus she is still a wannabe investigator – excited that she has solved a couple cases.
In this story Plum meets waitress Lisette, who wants to talk to her about “murders”. Plum is busy and doesn’t meet up with Lysette until the next day.
Now Lysette is found dead!
She recently was a server on the yacht of rich music executive, Robert Campbell.
Hmm is there a connection?

Plum gets involved in the investigation, and it’s not long before she is out at sea. She is in the middle of oceanic drama with some nasty wealthy passenger and fears that almost everyone around her might be the killer.
This story includes has some interesting characters such as Juan Kevin a love interest.
Love the twist at the ending. I read a lot of thrillers and know to suspect but in this case I was clueless!

Want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for February 28, 2023