The Ocean Liner Series

Book excerpt: The Ocean Liner series by Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective books, sets sail on some of the iconic vessels of the early twentieth century and each voyage takes a journey into ... murder. In book one, Murder on the Lusitania , George Dillman is aboard the Lusitania's 1907 maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York. While posing as a passenger, Dillman is in fact an undercover detective hired to keep an eye out for petty crimes. But after some uneventful days aboard, the ship's blueprints are stolen and then a body is found. As Dillman works to get to the bottom of the crimes, he makes an unusual friend, first-class passenger Genevieve Masefield, and the two uncover secrets aboard the ship that prove explosive. In book two, Murder on the Mauretania , Dillman and Masefield must endure a nightmare voyage in which severe weather batters the vessel. When a passenger is washed overboard, it is at first assumed it was a case of death by misadventure, but the detective pair come to realise that a very calculated murder has been carried out. In Murder on the Minnesota , Dillman and Masefield continue their travels as private detectives bound for the Far East. While a smuggling operation on the route is at first their focus, the voyage is blighted by a murder that will require all their investigative powers to solve. In Book four, Murder on the Caronia , Dillman and Masefield's Atlantic crossing is shared with a man and woman bound for England to face trial for murder. Over the course of the journey, Dillman and Masefield come to believe that the captured couple are not the vicious criminals many believe, but proving that hunch becomes harder when a killer strikes on board. Murder on the Marmora , the fifth instalment in the series, sees Dillman and Masefield set sail for Egypt, alongside royal passengers requiring security. And when a dead body turns up, the voyage proves to be one to remember.