S.S. Murder

Introduction by Curtis Evans
Published by American Mystery Classics
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About The Book

It's homicide on the high seas in this "A 1 mystery" by the Edgar Award–winning author Q. Patrick (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 written under a shared pseudonym used by Sweeney Todd author Hugh Wheeler and his lover Ricky Webb.

About The Author

Q. Patrick was one of the pen names under which Hugh Callingham Wheeler (1912–1987), Richard Wilson Webb (1901–1966), Martha Mott Kelley (1906–2005), and Mary Louise White Aswell (1902–1984) wrote detective fiction. Most of the stories were written together by Webb and Wheeler, or by Wheeler alone. Their best-known creation is 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.

Product Details

  • Publisher: American Mystery Classics (May 7, 2024)
  • Length: 264 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781613165362

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Raves and Reviews

"A more cleverly constructed murder yarn than this one would be difficult to find anywhere."

– New York Times

"Decorous retro entertainment that would make perfect shipboard reading."

– Kirkus

"Deftly crafted and a fun read for dedicated mystery buffs from start to finish."

– Midwest Book Review

"A seafoam-sparkling epistolary shipboard murder mystery with a literal boatload of suspects. . . . With S.S. Murder, the American Mystery Classics series has exhumed another lost treasure from detective fiction's golden age."

– Shelf Awareness

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