World War II in Europe has just come to an end. Five desperate people want to leave Europe as soon as possible--they don't mind buying their passage on a Portuguese cargo ship. They just want to get out. But they don't expect the ship to sink. Or to be set adrift on the ocean in a lifeboat with three crew members. Or to be rescued by an American Red Cross ship--only to find that one of the crew members has been murdered.
The rescue ship's captain has his work cut out for him. There doesn't seem to be any way to prove who took advantage of the storm-tossed sea to do away with the third officer of the Portuguese ship. And there doesn't seem to be any motive. Before the story is over there will be two more murders and two murderous attempts and more than one secret will be revealed. And, of course, with the story having been written in 1946 there are Nazis involved. But can you, the reader, discover the culprit before all is revealed?
Mignon Eberhart's short crime novel is characteristically full of suspense with a little bit of romance thrown in. There are plenty of clues and red herrings--and I changed my mind several times before the end. And, no, I didn't guess correctly. A good, solid three star story.
*One of three short novels in a 3-in-1 Detective Book Club edition.
3 comments:
Sounds great Bev - I don't think I've read anything by her in about 30 years probably but I'll see if I can track down some of her books and add them to my challenge. I think my views on romantic entanglements in books may have changed from my brash teenage years ...
I love a great mystery set on a ship/boat. It started with The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart, so I guess I will have to hunt this one down too.
Started this book today. We had a day trip to the beach, so I brought it along and read it while sitting on the beach with ships just visible on the horizon - a perfect setting - especially since I was safe on dry land and the murderer couldn't get to me easily. >> my review
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