Death on Deck by Verity Bright
When Lady Swift embarks upon her first luxury cruise she imagines a gilded ballroom, afternoons on deck taking tea and all the delectable food she can eat. But she can’t seem to escape from murder…
Lady Eleanor Swift is all set to spend her birthday with her beau, dashing Detective Hugh Seldon, until he calls to cancel on her again at the last minute. What’s a girl to do? Pack up her staff and her faithful old bulldog, Gladstone, and head off on a cruise to New York, that’s what!
On the stunningly opulent ocean liner Celestiana, Eleanor tries to forget her worries and make the most of her trip. That is, until she sees a man being shot and falling overboard. On closer inspection of the scene, Eleanor literally stumbles over the likely murder weapon. And the nick in the barrel is unmistakeable: this gun belongs to Detective Seldon…
With some discreet digging, Clifford discovers Detective Seldon is aboard the ship on an undercover mission. Eleanor doesn’t want to make waves but she’s sure that something fishy is going on and he’s being framed. To get Seldon off the hook, Eleanor casts her net wide and searches for the real murderer among a sea of suspects including European nobility, Italian opera stars and American nouveau riche. But does the victim’s expensive gold ring point to a lavish lifestyle or is it a red herring?
When another passenger is found dead in his first-class cabin, a poisoned whisky glass clutched in his hand, Eleanor realises they are really in hot water. Will the killer be Eleanor’s catch of the day, or will she spend her birthday at the bottom of the sea?
A totally charming, unputdownable Golden Age mystery with characters readers will adore. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss.
About the authors
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
Review
‘Death on Deck’ sees Eleanor and the gang set sail for America! So you know how I bang on about my favourite genre being strong women who solve mysteries between the wars?! There is a sub genre to this which I love even more - the story being set on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic! I don’t know why, maybe it’s the glamour of it all, the locked room mystery aspect or just basic jealously as I have always wanted to have experienced it. All this added up to me being very excited about this outing for Eleanor and the gang! And it did not disappoint.
When Inspector Hugh Seldon lets Lady Eleanor Swift know that he will have to miss her birthday as he has a case, she reconsiders an invitation to travel on the maiden voyage of the Celestiana to New York. Basically, she is in a bit of a huff and decides she wants adventure and off she trots with her merry band of staff and dog! She has paid for all the ladies on her staff to come along as a vacation and for them to experience the thrill of an ocean crossing! Not too long into the journey Eleanor witnesses a man being shot and pushed overboard. When she retrieves the gun she gets a shock as she recognises it as Hugh’s! Her faithful butler Clifford does some digging and finds Hugh on board, albeit cowering in his room with horrendous sea sickness. But he is also under cover as he is tracking a criminal he has been chasing for years! They come to the conclusion that Hugh is being framed for the murder and the countdown is on - they need to find the murderer before they dock in New York!
Although this is the 13th book in the series you can definitely read it on it's own as the background to the case isn't known to the reader either! This is one of my favourite series and this outing was brilliant - fast-paced, full of emotion, packed to the gunnels of twists and turns and technically it's a locked mystery as the murderer has nowhere to hide. I enjoyed learning more about Hugh and his life prior to meeting Eleanor and it certainly explains why their relationship has been progressing so slowly.
Roll on book 14 as it is set in New York! Let me know if you read this one.
