Discussion Questions

Death on the Aegean Queen

1. George Gaskill took about $6000 from the three men he played poker with, or about $2000 from each. Is the loss of $2000 sufficient motive for murder? How about the $6000 cash he took away from the casino? How much money is sufficient motive for murder?
   
   
2. Why do you think the author chose the Greek Islands for a setting? How would the story have been different if the cruise ship had been plying the waters of the Caribbean or another group of islands?
   
   
3. A sub-plot of the story is the theft and smuggling of ancient artifacts and this is a real problem in the Mediterranean area. The question is, who owns these items? The country where they were discovered? The person on whose land they were discovered? The person who dug them up? The institution that paid for the dig? Everyone? That last choice isn’t necessarily ridiculous; it can be argued that ancient artifacts reveal mankind’s common past and that belongs to all of us. What do you think?
   
   
4. The story is told in first person through the eyes of Dotsy, an ancient history teacher, so her bias toward the archaeological aspects of the cruise dominates the way the story is told. If this story had been told by Lettie Osgood, how would it have been different?
   
   
5. In an amateur sleuth mystery (Dotsy is an amateur sleuth) one problem is always, Why doesn’t he/she butt out and let the police do their job? In this case, so many law enforcement entities get involved and clash, almost anyone could have insinuated themselves into the investigation. Have you ever been bothered by the nosy interference of an amateur sleuth in a story?