Description:

Fourth in the Corinth/Browne Murder Mystery Series. Lord Benyon is on the Queen Mary, bound for New York. It is 1937, and his mission is to persuade President Roosevelt to supply Britain with arms and money if it comes to war with Germany. Those who want him to fail will not stop at murder to achieve their aim. But, when Benyon refuses police protection, Special Branch asks Lord Edward Corinth to keep an unofficial eye on him. However, it is not Benyon who is murdered but a racist senator from South Carolina, who has enraged many of his fellow passengers - not least Warren Fairley, the black singer. But if Fairley is too obvious a candidate, there are other suspects. How about union organiser Sam Forrest, with whom Verity Browne - going to America at the Party's behest to liaise with Communist sympathisers - is so taken? The thrilling denouement is yet another triumph for classic murder-mystery writer David Roberts. ** ### From Publishers Weekly In Roberts's fourth solid entry in his stylish cozy series set in the 1930s (after 2003's Hollow Crown), Lord Edward Corinth, wealthy man-about-town, and journalist Verity Browne, a card-carrying communist, travel first-class aboard the Queen Mary. Their first evening at sea, a guided tour reveals a carcass that will not appear on anyone's plate except that of the medical examiner when the ship puts into New York harbor: someone has murdered the valet of a senior British government official and hidden his body in a refrigeration compartment. Edward and Verity join forces to unmask the killer in a variation on the classic locked-room mystery. After a sluggish start, the liner and story pick up momentum, and Roberts amuses with his well-researched descriptions of the flagship of the Cunard Line and large cast of secondary characters. His lighthearted depiction of a hero and heroine with opposite political agendas and an unacknowledged, but mutual, attraction allows the two to explore both politics and the attraction without slowing the vague and rather haphazard plot. This is one to take on a cruise, or to read in front of a fire while others are on the slopes. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### Review Dangerous Sea is taken from more elegant times than ours when women retained their mystery and even murder held a certain charm. The plot is both intricate and enthralling, like Poirot on the high seas, and lovingly recorded by an author with a meticulous eye and a huge sense of fun. Michael Dobbs, author of Winston's War and Never Surrender Roberts just keeps getting better with each book in this historical series. Publishers Weekly