S.S. Murder

by Q. Patrick

It’s homicide on the high seas in this “A 1 mystery” by the Edgar Award–winning author best known for writing Sweeney Todd ( Kirkus Reviews ). Cub reporter Mary Llewellyn is on a soothing sea cruise to help her recover after a minor operation. Her fellow passengers are pleasant enough, gathering to play a friendly game of bridge to pass the time. But the game turns considerably less so when a wealthy businessman samples a cocktail―and ends up dead at the table.

The news that someone onboard dumped a fatal dose of strychnine into the man’s drink sends a ripple of panic through the voyagers. All too soon, it becomes clear that the murder was not an isolated incident when another passenger is shoved overboard during a storm.

Determined to stop a murderer, Mary decides to do some snooping above and below deck to get to the truth. If she doesn’t figure out the mystery of the seagoing slayer, she might not make it back to land alive.

A traditional mystery set aboard a luxury cruise liner from the Golden Age of nautical travel, S.S. Murder is a charming whodunit co-written by one of the titans of Broadway, Sweeney Todd author Hugh Wheeler.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime

236 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge were pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (19 March 1912 – 26 July 1987), Richard Wilson Webb (August 1901 – December 1966), Martha Mott Kelly (30 April 1906–2005) and Mary Louise White Aswell (3 June 1902 – 24 December 1984) wrote detective fiction. In some foreign countries their books have been published under the variant Quentin Patrick. Most of the stories were written by Webb and Wheeler in collaboration, or by Wheeler alone. Their most famous creation is the amateur sleuth Peter Duluth. In 1963, the story collection The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow was given a Special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great mystery

Great mystery with lots of suspense and plot twists. Recommended highly for those who like Ellery Queen, Anthony Boucher and Van Dine.

[EuroHackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up. This was okay. I was not a fan of the narrator, who tipped over into TSTL territory a bit too often for my taste. The novel is told in the form of journal entries, and way too many people know about the journal, basically right from the start. Mary Llewellyn is no Harriet the Spy!

The whodunit made sense, especially after the last OTT threat to the lives of most of the inner circle. I didn't guess the right person(s), but the motive made sense. The dénouement is an extremely long, drawn-out scene and I started skipping all the fluff to get to the point. There is some meta thrown in, for fans of such winks, and this is the first shipboard mystery re-released in the American Mystery Classics line that I've managed to finish, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone else looking to dip their toes into this subgenre.

[Anto_s1977 · Rating 4 out of 5]

La giornalista Mary Llewellyn, dopo aver subito un'operazione di appendicectomia, si imbarca sulla Moderna per una crociera che le permetterà di rimettersi in forze. Ma possiamo definire la crociera sulla Moderna in tutti i modi, tranne che rilassante!
E' infatti già la prima sera di viaggio che a bordo viene commesso un omicidio; il ricchissimo imprenditore Alfred Lambert è, infatti, ucciso con un cocktail alla stricnina davanti ad un numero ristretto di passeggeri.
Mary comincia a tenere una sorta di diario in cui racconta in modo particolareggiato tutto ciò che accade passo passo sulla nave, diario indirizzato al futuro marito che la attende a New York.
Il diario preoccupa l'assassino, il fantomatico Robinson, che appare e scompare senza che nessuno riesca mai a capire come faccia. Nonostante la nave sia stata setacciata in lungo e in largo e non manchino escursioni notturne alla luce di una fioca torcia persino nella camera in cui è custodito il cadavere, nessuna traccia evidente dell'assassino riesce ad essere individuata.
A complicare le cose arriva il secondo e straziante omicidio della nipote di Lambert, che viene lanciata nell'oceano mentre un grido acuto e stravolgente si diffonde nell'aria.
Mary e il suo diario, diventano anche loro, prede dello sconosciuto assassino...finché si giunge finalmente alla sua individuazione grazie al famoso diario e all'intuizione del detective Daniels.
Decisamente un bel giallo d'altri tempi, con un'ambientazione affascinante da cui l'assassino non può fuggire, per cui, anche il più innocuo dei passeggeri, può rivelarsi il più efferato assassino.
Per quanto mi riguarda, avevo avuto un piccolo sospetto, ma l'autore è stato bravo a depistarmi in più occasioni.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the new reprint in the Otto Penzler American Mystery Classics with an intro by Curtis Evans. Enjoyed the intro which gives you an idea of how many authors were involved under this alias and various iterations. (There’s so much more that Evans knows about this team so if you want to know more about this authro google Curtis Evans and search his blog.)

On to the story. The set up here is a series of letters being written by a young lady on a trip for relaxation to recover from a surgery. I can’t say it seemed relaxing at all. The use of writing letter to a fiancé really does two things that made this story great. 1. It cuts out a lot of chit chat and emoting- action happens all the time. 2. In this instance it provides the author to be super honest when describing people and situations in a really fun and personable manner.

Someone who has lots of money dies. No big surprise here. But how, then how was it done? There is a mysterious man that is believed to be the killer- but no one can find him. While there is a boat full of people, it truly is a specific group from where the killer will be found. Both Mary (the writer of letters) and Burr (someone who befriend’s Mary) are looking for answers. What occurs over time is- they are in the little packet of letters Mary has been writing and will send off when they boat reaches its destination. Basically you are reading the answer.

You are shown all the clues – can you figure out who. (I was successful- but won’t say how I figured it out and even then- I wasn’t super sure.) Very enjoyable mystery.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid and impeccably-constructed Golden-Age entry, complete with all the good and bad that come with those terms: a winking acknowledgment of genre tropes (it remains striking to me how frequently we see authors include metatextual acknowledgments by the late 20s), an Ellery Queen-type challenge to the reader (complete with the pointed hint that a single word on an early page is the key to it all), a completely out-of-nowhere racial slur (just to remind you how casual and unthinking racist remarks used to be), and a heroine who faints at a tense moment. (For the most part, though, she's pretty stalwart.) We're on shipboard, and the novel is narrated via letters to the narrator's fiancee, which of course means some we get remarks about how perfect a location a ship is for a mystery, and there are the usual upper-crust pastimes, including the results of the deck-tennis tournament and of course bridge; one crucial clue here is the notion that one's bridge style provides an ineradicable signature, which feels like the sharpest one-line parody/summation possible of the limits and achievements of this period's fiction. More interesting is the not-that-hidden queer subtext, given that both of the authors who wrote as "Q. Patrick," and also "Patrick Quentin," were gay. There's a possible drag subplot, an older woman with a female companion, and this genderless intimation of the afterlife: "I have a distinct presentiment that the angels in heaven will be beautiful in the large, sexless and somewhat athletic manner of Daphne Demarest." I mean, right?

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

There seem to be a lot of golden age mysteries that take place in a "limited access" environment, from trains to snowed-in country manors to (as in this case) ocean liners. There is something thrilling about being trapped with a killer, a ticking clock for our investigator to solve the mystery before the murderer can leave the scene and disappear into the crowds.

So what do we have here? A classic murder mystery from the early 1930's, told through a series of letters from intrepid reporter Mary Llewellyn to her fiancée as she recovers from an appendectomy, cruising down the eastern seaboard to South America.

The letters/diary start out with Mary being a bit bored, telling about her fellow passengers and observations on daily shipboard life. But this changes almost immediately as an older gentleman is poisoned right in front of her during a game of bridge. Let the intrigue begin!

It turns out that there's a few passengers that know each other and could be considered business rivals. We also have some hidden identities, long lost children that might be out for revenge, undercover investigators, and red herrings a plenty! When a second murder takes place, Mary realizes that her journal might hold the clues needed to unmask the murderer, which lines her up to be the next victim. Can Mary solve the case before the murderer silences her permanently?

A fine example showing that the American authors (or at least partially American!) also had something to contribute to the golden age of mystery. A fun outing with the format providing an interesting twist.

[Michael Reilly]

This is a recent addition to the American Mystery Classics series.

The series has now released at least three books in the interesting subgenre of cruise ship murders. It was a natural development in the 1930s. It is a reminder that up until the 1940s, you got to Europe by taking a cruise ship for at least a few weeks. The setting provides a closed circle of suspects. The passengers are mostly strangers whose backgrounds are mysterious. The stories are variations on the classic country home and locked room mysteries.

This is a cruise to Latin America. It is an epistolatory story told in letters and a diary from Mary Llewelyn to her fiancée. Mary is taking a rest cruise to recover from an appendectomy. A murder occurs shortly after the ship embarks. There is a mysterious imposter hiding on the ship. Another murder happens. The passengers turn out to have family and business connections with each other.

The story is unwound at a good pace. The mystery plot is well done. Mary is an excellent narrator.

This is a fun, smart, classic murder mystery.

[Fabio Pucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo il capolavoro "Troppe lettere per Grace", un’altra dimostrazione dell’incredibile capacità del duo Webb-Wheeler nel creare coinvolgimento. Una partenza assolutamente convenzionale, tipica dei gialli del periodo – ma con Patrick Quentin che, assurto a personaggio, si incarica si consegnare al mondo il diario del mistero -, fa da premessa ad un’inarrestabile macchina di adrenalina, che raggiunge il suo vertice quando finalmente ci si avvicina alla soluzione dell’enigma, continuamente preannunciata, come quando uno dei personaggi, leggendo il diario del personaggio principale, indica a quale pagina appare evidente un comportamento insolito di uno dei sospettati. La scoperta del colpevole giunge onesta, non troppo sorprendente, ma sarebbe stato difficile alzare ulteriormente il tiro dopo tali aspettative. Unico neo una certa insistenza, nella fase iniziale, nelle partite a bridge (presenti, con finalità più psicoanalitiche, anche in "Carte in tavola" della Christie), ma si tratta di un peccato veniale, che non intacca l’efficacia di un ottimo romanzo.

****

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quentin Patrick/Patrick Quentin was one of my favorite mystery/thriller writers as a pre-teen, and this early, 1933 novel delivers. Pretty much non-stop action, and I do love 1. A young, spunky female protagonist (newspaper columnist Mary) and 2. The letter-/diarywriting device. Some funny points which probably would have been unnoticed by my younger self is the description of Mary’s friend Adam Burr as a ”wannabe sugar daddy” and Jimmy Earnshaw’s ”John Gilbert mustache ”, but otherwise it could very well be a Nancy Drew mystery. QP is always very good at tricking the reader with a seemingly impossible murder and a mysterious, elusive killer, and this is no exception. Rather than a whodunnit it’s a whereishe/whoishe. Fresh and with a fun setting. Recommended.

[Kidlitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A DRC was provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an amused and not-too-underwater review.

Cleverly done, with a reporter lady detective who keeps an exhaustive diary and writes letters to her fiancee through an aquatic murder investigation. The bridge playing is a bit tedious as a clue map, and the other characters undeveloped, but Mary Llewellyn is a perky enough narrator to sustain interest, full of quips and observations on the personalities and action on board. This reissue by American Mystery Classic should bring new readership to the neglected authors and co-writers, however dated some of the social details are, the reader sails on.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A murder mystery told in epistolary form, although it reads more like journal entries than letters to a real person. Miss Mary Llewellyn is taking a rest cure after an operation, so is sailing from New York down to Rio. What should have been a voyage full of bridge games and shuffleboard becomes a manhunt for a killer instead. A pretty light and fluffy affair, the plot was fairly predictable and the killer guessable (not always a forgone conclusion in my case), but still enjoyable and easy to get through.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. When journalist Mary Llewellyn embarks on a voyage aboard the S.S. Moderna, while recovering from an appendectomy, she never expects to become involved in a murder investigation. But since she is a journalist, she begins keeping a record, in the form of letters to her fiance. An apparently impossible murder is followed by a disappearance, and then another murder. But whodunnit? and why? This is a classic from the Golden Age of Mystery, and does not disappoint.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the good pleasure of reading this book while on a cruise. It was fun experiencing some of the same events (well, there were no deaths to my knowledge on my cruise, and the rough waters weren't fun).
I appreciated that it was written from the perspective of a female journalist. It was a great point of view.
I recommend this book.

I note that I read the Otto Pensler Presents American Mysteries Collection edition. I do support the Mysterious Bookstore.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written cozy, good detection but I found myself skimming through it. English wife on a cruise writing a diary for her husband when there’s an apparent murder. Young girl “falls” overboard screaming and the man she was talking to disappears. In fact he frequently disappears. Who is he, really? We don’t know until the end.

[Joseph K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and delightful. Written in 1930, the story unfolds as a series of first person diary entries. References to the depression, highballs, flappers, the game of bridge and others. The author cleverly teases the reader towards the end of the book that the all the clues to the identity of the killer have been written in those diary entries. If you love an excellent mystery, this is for you.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reprint from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, one of my favorites, so far. Well written (or perhaps truly appeals to me as I enjoy this journalistic style?).
Fun also to come across features from this particular social time era. A satisfying read.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy Mystery Book Club book

[Matthew Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay.

[Suzanne Robertson Moutis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, fizzy read that kept me guessing until the very last page.

[Michael N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Move over Ambien! This book started off well, but petered out quickly. The narrator is extremely annoying. Weak plot.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great premise. Towards the middle, it starts to get silly with the investigation techniques. Mary is a bit annoying, and I did skim over her asides to Davy. Mostly, I found this one entertaining enough to say I liked it. I would only recommend it to people who love Golden Age mysteries.