This book is not about the fateful voyage in 1915 but tells of the adventures on the vessel's maiden voyage in 1907 when all is new and the captain is trying to beat the crossing record.
Spies and confidence tricksters, young lovers and old musicians are all put together on the ship with lots of activity for its new detective George Porter.
Great fun

The story dragged imo, especially in the first half, till something happened. Besides the conversation between the characters there were little means to discover the truth which is presented in a show-down in the end.

This is a cosy murder mystery which occurs aboard a ship called Lusitania. I was intrigued by this book as it reminded me of Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. The writing is amazing, very good for a mystery book. The characters are funny and interesting. But the mystery was underwhelming. The main crime takes too long to happen so it weakens the pace of the book.

I really wanted to like this. I am a fan of Agatha Christie and others. While this book did stick into that genre of mystery, I just really struggled with it. Very slow at the beginning. A lot of characters to keep track of.

Although the Lusitania has sailed before this time she is trying to win the Blue Ribbon for the fastest crossing to New York. The difference is well established between all classes but it seems that first class has all the questionable people. Fortunately they have a private detective on board but even he is slow to catch the real criminals when a murder is committed as he seems to let romance cloud his judgement. Good read and lots of red herrings before we arrive in New York with the culprit apprehended.

A bit slow to get going as there were lots of character's to meet. Murder at the end of Chapter 8 and then thinks moved at a much better pace. Nice clean mystery with a bit of romance.

Plot

September 1907. George Porter Dillman sets sail from Liverpool on the Lusitania's maiden voyage. Hired by the ship's captain to pose as a passenger, George is in fact a private detective for the Cunard Line. In the first days of his voyage, George only has to deal with a few petty crimes. But then an expensive piece of jewellery is reported stolen and a body is found. Working quickly to solve both crimes, George makes an unusual friend, Genevieve Masefield, and the two uncover secrets aboard the ship that prove explosive.

Review

A very cosy who done it set aboard one of the most glorious ships in the world, which was sadly sunk by enemy submarines during the first world war.

The characters are charming and Dillman is your perfect young detective.

I liked the smatterings of romance thrown in which were nice enough without taking you away from the main story.

Fans of Edward Marston will no doubt love this book.

All in all I thought it was a quick, cosy read perfect for a chilly night in.

Rating

4/5


Recommend
Yes definitely

Thank you to and Allison and Busby and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this! I’m not a huge reader of like “cozy” type murder mysteries but I saw murder mystery and cruise in the same sentence and had to read it.

I loved the plot and setting of the book, the characters were fun, interesting, and distinct. I loved the world and character building more than anything! Especially the main group of friends for our dear detective. I did have a hard time liking Genevieve, but she did grow on me the more I got into the book.

I think the only issue I had was pacing! It felt like I got through almost 75% of the book without anything actually happening other than character building. Once the climax hit with the murder, the book went really fast paced. It felt like everything got it’s own little one chapter to be wrapped up in and that was that, and I wish some of the plots that were focused on, specifically Violet and her stowaway boyfriend, were cleared up a bit more.

I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the series once I actually get my hands on them!

September 1907, and the maiden voyage of the Cunard line’s RMS Lusitania, which was then the world’ biggest and most luxurious ocean liner. The boat departs Liverpool for its five day trip to New York. Charles Porter Dillman is an American employed by Cunard as an onboard plain clothes security official and keeps an eye on affairs, mostly to protect the wealthy, privileged the first class travelers. In order to fulfil his duties he establishes friendly relations with a number of the first-class passengers. Formerly employed by Pinkerton’s, he is adept at spotting potential crimes and risks, and is capably inserts himself into the social life of the vessel and her privileged customers. The title of the book tells us clearly there will be a murder onboard, but as this is does not occur until nearly midway through the book, the reader spends much of the first part wondering about who the victim is going to be from the assembled passengers we have become acquainted with.
Murder on an ocean-going liner is a traditional stage for setting a historical murder mystery as the crime and suspects are imprisoned for a certain time within a limited arena. This is the first in a series of novels from the prolific Marston that are centred on crimes committed on the larger ocean-going luxury liners of the early years of the twentieth century. This is a very well narrated story, capably plotted and entertaining to read, engaging and maintaining the reader’s attention in the novel. The identity of the criminal(s) is expertly concealed. Marston has researched his historical context excellently, without dumping lectures of his reading and learning into the text. Highly recommended.

I don't believe it was clear to me at the outset that this was a rerelease of a novel, while it did seem wildly familiar. My review of this is short and simple. I felt the novel started a bit slowly. You're introduced to many characters and are left hoping that there will be a greater connection than the fact that they're all on the same vessel together. Luckily, the various mysterious event that occur start to spice up the plot and it is an unexpected twist as to who is carrying out the crimes. I felt the ending is rather abrupt and I do wish had been expanded. That being said, I was intrigued by the mystery and it was able to keep my attention once the plot began to pick up pace.

The Lusitania is one of my favorite ocean liners so I was excited to grab this. I wasn't disappointed!
I definitely was on board for this one and because it was set on Lusitania I enjoyed it even more. I didn't want the story to end that's for sure!
I could very well imagine myself being plunked in the middle of people's con and the dining room sounding like a school cafeteria.
The author describes the dining room and the rest of the ship to a tee! I had a good time!
The author did such a good job with this novel that I'm giving it 5 stars for the well written book and for leaving me thinking about them long after this book was finished.
5 stars for an excellent cosy mystery that kept me engaged the whole way through. I finished this book in one day!
Thanks for a wonderful read.
I highly recommend.
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

This is a cosy mystery, with a touch of romance and the bonus of the shipboard location. This book is brilliant, really well written, good story which kept me interested from the beginning. Great characters too.

An smooth old fashioned mystery with the extra bonus of the setting aboard the maiden voyage of the Lusitania. While away an enjoyable Sunday afternoon with.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

First I would like to thank Netgalley, publisher, and author from providing this eArc.

This book was unfortunately a DNF for me. I made it to about 54% before making my decision to shut the book for good. There were just too many characters, only a few had actual personalities, and a lot of events in the book were vague. .

For example, there is a scene where one character decides to have an affair with another passenger when he specifically came aboard ship to reach the "love of his life." Sure - things happen. However, the details were so vague and the dialogue was so juvenile I just didn't know what was actually going on and why.

There were also a few places where sentences and spelling did not make sense. I could tell the writing was meant to have an old fashioned feel, but I found it distracting from the events that were being written about.

Once again, thank you for the opportunity and I hope other readers love it.

This mystery is set on board the ocean liner Lusitania crossing the Atlantic in 1907 and the first in the Ocean Liner series. We meet lots of different characters there and the people that will further appear in this mystery series by Edward Marston (pseudonym for Keith Miles, and also published under the name Conrad Allen).
The story dragged imo, especially in the first half, till something happened. Besides the conversation between the characters there were little means to discover the truth which is presented in a show-down in the end. There are funny parts in it, but the (small) romance isn´t really convincing. I liked the setting on the ship, as it narrows the circle of suspects.
Thanks to Allison & Busby and Netgalley for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Set on the maiden voyage of Cunard's "Lusitania" in 1907, this is an interesting if light murder mystery. George Dillman is a first class passenger and we meet a lively mixture of his fellow passengers along with a nauseous journalist. Naturally he is not First Class but manages to inveigle himself onto their decks as well as his own, Third Class and the depths of the ship's working areas, antagonising everyone as he goes. There are thefts aboard too, plans stolen and spy mongering assumed. Then the journalist's murdered - good job done. The passengers are a bit of a cliche - family with almost adult daughter who's in love with an "unsuitable" man; bounder looking for rich young woman; gambler looking for victims; lounge lizard; mysterious lady; eccentric musician. Dillman finally has to admit that he's an undercover detective hired to keep the ship safe as some of her modifications have been done with the expectation of her being needed in the case of war - hence the spying. Life about the ship has ben well researched by the author and, I imagine, feels "of its time". Enough twists and turns to keep me engaged and a nice, if not totally unexpected, ending. A good read. Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely love Edward Marston and have read almost everything he has written, but I'm not so sure about this series. Originally published under a pseudonym and now being reissued under the Edward Marston banner, one can readily guess why this was considered necessary.

The most noticeable thing about this book was that it took almost half the book to get going, but once it did, the story picked up pace. The setting of a ocean liner for a series of murders is inherently flawed, and the necessary investigative restrictions of such a setting were quite apparent in this, the first of the series Firstly, the detective was working undercover as one of the passengers, making any direct action quite impossible (aside from clandestine searches). Also, no official law enforcement presence was possible, which made the whole thing a completely amateur effort, lacking any official coroner's report or forensic possibilities.. This is by no means unusual in mystery fiction, but it can make for a particularly uninteresting investigation.

One thing I found most frustrating was the stilted conversation between the characters. One would expect this amongst a cast of characters who, due to the nature of the setting, are complete strangers to each other, but it made for rather dull and lacklustre characterisation. Even the main protagonist, who seemed to be considered a man of mystery amongst his fellow passengers, did not arouse any interest in me as a reader. He had as much life as a dead cod, and the other characters not much more. In fact, the only person who spoke with any life or animation turned out to be the villain!

For Marston fans I would say read this for the sake of completeness, but I would point anyone looking for a really good historical mystery story to one of Marston's other series'.

What a cozy, fun mystery with the best of settings. I really loved this easy read with a bit of history intertwined. This novel follows Dillman, a detective undercover on Lusitania’s maiden voyage (8 years before she was torpedoed during WWI). He his hired to monitor the first class group and prevent crime while on board. During the voyage, he meets a likable cast of characters and an instant villainous rival to create the perfect whodunnit story - especially when the murder occurs. There is a nostalgic Clue vs Agatha Christie vibe to this story and I can’t wait to follow the series. This is simply the perfect novel to pick up to escape reality for a little bit and get absorbed in a mystery. I give it 3.5 stars (rounded up) simply because it’s light hearted and not complex. The character development is simplistic and the mystery doesn’t have a ton of “puzzle” to it. However, I enjoyed this all the same.

George carries a secret. As he boards the Lusitania on its maiden voyage, he appears to be a carefree American returning to his hometown of Boston following a jaunt in Europe. But, in reality, he is a former actor and Pinkerton Agent who has been hired by the Cunard line to be on the lookout for thieves, pickpockets and minor crimes. But major crimes soon begin to emerge. Valuable items are stolen and an obnoxious journalist is murdered. To top it off, George is falling in love...with two different women.

Besides being a ripping good murder mystery, this book gives a wonderful capsule of a romantic period in time. We learn much more about what life was like on this majestic ship. The dialogue was excellent. The character development was great.

All in all, this is a wonderful book for people who like murder mysteries set in wonderful historical settings.

Edward Marston is one of my favorite historical mystery writer and this new series is full of promises as this book was gripping and highly entertaining.
Great characters, a vivid and well researched historical background, a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I can't wait to read other books in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine