3🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 29/100
💫Genre: Mystery/Thriller
🎧ARC🎧
Narrated by:
Elizabeth Cottle
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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!
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📌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

This is the third installment in the series and I thought it was the best so far! I’ve noticed that many of the low rated reviews are from people who read only this one (again people, it’s the THIRD book in a SERIES) as a stand-alone and didn’t feel connected or didn’t understand why some things happened the way they did- please do yourself a favor and read the books in order so you aren’t missing out! For me, I felt like I was getting to know Plum in the first one, who I found to be a little off putting, by the second book I was starting to see more of her charm and by the third book, I was rooting for her. I love the tropical settings for the series and have been intrigued by the entertaining mysteries.. I highly recommend this series for anyone looking for a cute cozies!

Loved the play on words in the title and such a fun story.
The narrator was amazing and really helped woth the story . Would definitely recommend

This is the third book in the trouble in Paradise series. The cover is beautiful, however, it just cannot live up to the expectations as the first to that. Although I will say that narration was great!
Shout out to netgalley and publishing for the listen and review

When I initially requested this from NetGalley I did not realize it was part of a series. I chose to dive right in instead of locating the first books and it went just fine! So absolutely can be read as a stand-alone.

The mentions of previous cases is frequent, enough that I’m definitely curious to check them out but not enough that I found myself confused at any point while listening. The narrator was great, the case was interesting and our amateur detective is hilarious.

I really did enjoy this!

I enjoy cozy mysteries like THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGONFRUIT TATTOO. I am actually drawn to the ones with pun titles (don't ask me why...I don't know).

The main character, Plum Lockhart has moved to the tropical island of Paraiso and keeps finding herself embroiled in another murder. Using her cunning investigative skills, Plum is able to enjoy a little relaxation on a beautiful yacht while still being about to call out a killer.

I have not read any other books in the Trouble in Paradise! series, but if they are anything like this book, I know they will be just as enjoyable and I will go on my TBR list.

The narration on this was really well done! The audiobook narrator was incredible.

Unfortunately I found the main character irritating and was not able to finish the story.

I was new to the Trouble in Paradise series, but this didn’t stop me from easily following along with characters and storylines in this third installment.

I would best describe this as a fun collab between Below Deck and Glass Onion… a light and breezy who-done-it featuring a cast of obnoxiously self-centered attention seekers. The characters were certainly not charming or lovable, but given the theme of the book it was perfectly fitting. The murder-mystery came together nicely and had a few fun twists and turns along the way. An easy and entertaining read, or if you’re like me and enjoyable listen. Special props to the narrator Elizabeth Cottle, who provided good variety and believable accents to the diverse cast.

I would give this a 3.5 star and round up to 4. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced copy.

Tropical islands, yachts, the famous and wealthy, and cold blooded murder. What could make for a better combination in a cozy mystery!

I loved the setting and the start with the budding romance between Plum and Juan Kevin. I thought the addition of Juan Kevin’s meddling ex was also going to play a role, but those seemed to fall by the wayside. I wish they had played more into the story, but perhaps in the next!

The premise was fun and made for a quick read. A group of wealthy individuals involved in the film and music industry go island hopping and a young crew member dies. I ran a little hot and cold about how I felt about Plum, but I’m wondering if some of the earlier books made her more endearing and I was missing backstory.

The narrator was great and kept the story going at a nice clip.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for the ARC of this audiobook! I’ll have to read the two earlier books in the series now!

Super fun, quick and easy to listen to while doing chores and running errands. I haven’t read the other books in the series yet, but after meeting the cast of characters, I definitely will grab the audiobooks asap! I love the tropical setting, and the narrator’s accents which added to the ambiance. Honestly, I don’t hold the bar high with cozy mystery, so if they’re a little cheesy and/or east to figure out, I don’t mind, so long as they’re entertaining enough to make me smile. This totally did the trick! 3 ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion!

This was a cute and fun book. I found the narrator a little grating, and was sick of her voice by the end which unfortunately took away from my enjoyment of the story.

But overall, I loved the main character and adventure of this one. I would definitely give another by this author a shot!

This was an okay book. The narrator did a decent job, but I never felt any connection with the characters.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this audio verision. I was enjoying the surranding so much. The main charactere try to discover the mystery about a death. And there is a really surprising ending, at least for me.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGONFRUIT TATTOO is the third book in the Tropical Island Cozy Mystery series by Carrie Doyle. A colorful and inviting cover will make you dream of a tropical getaway, which is where the New York transplant, Plum Lockhart, lives and works at her villa rental company. The author sets the scene with tantalizing descriptions, so when Plum sails out to sea on a billionaire’s yacht, with the rich and fabulous, you can’t help but want to tag along. Except, there seems to be a murderer aboard and one of the yacht’s employees is the victim. And Plum has been sent undercover to find the culprit.

This book is a light-hearted mystery with over-the-top characters. Plum is reminiscent of Agatha Raisin in her behavior and style of investigating, as well as her interaction with others aboard the yacht. As she “interviews” everyone on board, there are a few clues to follow and I enjoyed her Agatha Christie-style reveal. Setting aside any quest for realistic portrayals, the story is a fun escape and a perfect beach read.

I was provided with an advance audiobook, thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. The narrator, Elizabeth Cottle, did a terrific job capturing Plum Lockhart’s voice and attitude, adding to the enjoyment of the story. She also did an admirable job making each character distinguishable from the others, so I never was at a loss on who was speaking.

No. I was bored. I couldn't get into it at all. Couldn't connect with any of the characters either. Maybe a little too cozy for my taste.

Clean read but not my jam.

Plum ends up at a yacht party when when of the waitress’s she has just met ends up dead. When Plum is ordered to go along on a yachting trip with the suspects drama and chaos ensues. With another death and more incriminating information collected about the suspects can Plum find out the killer before it’s too late? I had both an ebook ARC and the audio version of this book and highly recommend the audiobook thank you @dreamscape_media! The narration was fantastic! Such a fun cozy mystery to escape into!

The Girl with the Dragonfruit Tattoo is cozy and hilariously chaotic! The characters are over the top and remind me of the reality show “Below Deck” with their antics. While I did find it hard to connect with the characters it was still a fun & fast read - I will definitely be checking out the future installments in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.