I thought of some others that might be pretty available used. Here they are, in case you decide on emergency bookbuying today.

The three books by the tragically short-lived Sarah Caudwell, very funny mysteries about young barristers in London:

Thus Was Adonis Murdered
The Shortest Way to Hades
The Sybil In Her Grave

Dorothy Sayers, of course. The Harriet Vane books are better for being read in order: Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon. The rest of the Peter Wimsey books are pretty stand-alone

Ngaio Marsh: The Roderick Alleyn books are not particularly harmed by being read out of order. He gets a wife, he gets older and PC Whats-his-face continues to be a hypocondriac.

Sharyn McCrumb: The Ballad Books ( If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, She Walks These Hills, The Rosewood Casket, The Ballad of Frankie Silver...) have some common characters, but can easily be read out of order.

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels

Robert B. Parker: The early Spenser novels (1979-1989) are excellent. They go downhill after that, plus there's the Susan Silberman factor.

Josephine Tey

I haven't read a lot of the mass-market thriller writers, but Tess Gerritsen and Iris Johansen are pretty readable.

I always recommend Jennifer Crusie and Connie Willis, except that Willis' Passages is not really a good choice for a cruise. It's about the Titanic.

The three books by the tragically short-lived Sarah Caudwell, very funny mysteries about young barristers in London:

There's four. If I can just figure out which one you're missing...

Nope, I had to check Amazon. "The Sirens Sang of Murder."

except that Willis' Passages is not really a good choice for a cruise. It's about the Titanic.

The disadvantage of being terse. That last sentence is what computer nerds would call "lossy information compression".

Thanks, Dana.

That last sentence is what computer nerds would call "lossy information compression".

TB is right. The book is about life after death, heroism and a lot of other things, but it was the Titanic part of it was what I thought was the critical factor in cruise reading.

I always recommend Jennifer Crusie and Connie Willis, except that Willis' Passages is not really a good choice for a cruise.

Also, it's terrible. (YMMV of course. I love Willis generally, but that book....ugh...)

Yeah. Passage is easily my least favourite Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog, on the other hand, is marvellous. I also love Doomsday Book, but that's probably too depressing for a cruise.

My favorite Connie Willis is Bellwether.

I'm not a Passage fan myself. It's way past time for new Connie Willis.

I think Bellwether is one of the funnier books ever, at least if you've ever worked in a dysfunctional organization -- and who hasn't?

Another "tragically died too soon" mystery writer I enjoyed is Kate Ross, who has a Regency dandy as her detective. The books are Cut to the Quick, A Broken Vessel, Whom The Gods Love, and A Devil in Music (which is a whole new level of depth and sophistication from the first three, and makes her death even more tragic to think where she might have gone next.)

Passage needed an editor, big time. There was a good book in there, under all those words.

Another "tragically died too soon" mystery writer I enjoyed is Kate Ross, who has a Regency dandy as her detective.

Oh, I adored them. So, so good.