Crime Fiction Alphabet: Letter V

Kerrie over at Mysteries in Paradise sponsors The Aphabet in Crime Fiction community meme. your post MUST be related to the first letter of the book's title, the first letter of the author's first name or the first letter of the author's surname. You can write a book review or a bio of an author so long as it fits the rules somehow.

We are heading into the home stretch and this week we are featuring the Letter V. My choice this week? V is for Voyage into Violence by Frances & Richard Lockridge. The Lockridge husband and wife team wrote 26 detective novels starring Pam and Jerry North. This one is number 21 and it finds the Norths on a high seas vacation with their friends Lt. Bill Weigand and his wife Dorian. What is expected to be a carefree vacation aboard the S. S. Carib Queen soon turns into a death cruise when a fellow passenger is killed in a highly bizarre fashion. The victim is found with a ceremonial sword deep in his chest--a sword which Pam North had seen earlier hanging at the side of a man in an odd tunic and blue trousers. The sight causes Pam to wonder aloud, "What...what kind of ship is this anyway?" And well she might ask. When the murder occurs, Pam is off and running on another sleuthing adventure with plenty of suspects to wonder about. There is the professional dancer; the dowdy, depressed and frustrated young woman; the clinging, overbearing and often drunk mother; and a whole convention of Ancient and Respectable Riflemen--any one of whom may have grown tired of the rifle and perhaps chosen to use a sword. What results is a scenic and action-packed cruise culminating in an exciting climax in Havana.