: Edward Marston
: The Ocean Liner Series Books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Murder on the Lusitania, Murder on the Mauretania, Murder on the Minnesota, Murder on the Caronia, Murder on the Marmora
: Allison& Busby
: 9780749031213
: Ocean Liner Mysteries
: 1
: CHF 5.40
:
: Krimis, Thriller, Spionage
: English
: 1000
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
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.

Edward Marston has written well over a hundred books, including some non-fiction. He is best known for his hugely successful Railway Detective series and he also writes the Bow Street Rivals series featuring twin detectives set during the Regency; the Home Front Detective novels set during the First World War; and the Ocean Liner mysteries.

Few cities in Europe had as impressive a maritime history as Liverpool and none could match the pride and fervour with which the port sent off each successive ship on its maiden voyage. But even Liverpool had never known such an occasion as the departure of theLusitania on its first Atlantic crossing. The latest addition to the Cunard Line excited such curiosity and inspired such patriotic feeling that people came from all over the country to witness the event. Huge crowds milled along both banks of the Mersey, swelling in numbers until they passed the two hundred thousand mark. The object of their veneration, the elegant giant known as theLusitania, had been anchored in midstream throughout most of the day while theLucania took on passengers. Once the pride of the line, the latter now looked small, old, and dowdy when seen beside the looming beauty of the new vessel.

When theLucania set sail at 4.30 p.m. theLusitania moved slowly into its vacant berth, drawing a gasp of awe from the spectators as they watched a ship that was longer than the Houses of Parliament glide effortlessly over the water. It was a marvel of marine engineering. Many in the crowd wondered how a vessel with a gross weight of 31,500 tons could remain so buoyant in the water. Here was a ship that was not only the biggest and most luxurious in the world; its quadruple screw propellers were powered by four direct-acting steam turbines and were capable of generating speeds in excess of anything ever seen in an oceanic liner.

None of those now staring at the huge vessel with its four red funnels gleaming in the sunshine doubted for a moment that it would regain the Blue Riband – the unofficial prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing – from the unworthy hands of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line. British pride had been severely dented when its maritime ascendancy was usurped by Germany with technically advanced liners such as theKaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and theDeutschland. Centuries of dominance came to a juddering halt, a situation compounded by the fact that the German navy was now growing at an alarming rate. Political motives came into play. Government subsidies were hastily offered to Cunard. TheLusitania and its sister ship, theMauretania, due to have its own maiden voyage in November, were built expressly as a means of reasserting British supremacy on the high seas and of sending a clear message to the German government.

Activity around the ship reached a peak as passengers converged eagerly on the pier. The customs sheds worked at full stretch, port officials were out in full numbers, a sizeable police presence had been drafted to control the crowds, and a small army of hawkers moved among the spectators to sell food, drink, flags, postcards, and assorted souvenirs. The majority of passengers arrived by train but several were delivered by horse-drawn cabs or spluttering automobiles, each competing for space in the congested traffic. Electric trams brought those who could afford no better transport, and open carts emblazoned with the nameLusitania were pulled by pairs of horses from the hostels where emigrants had stayed overnight with their meagre belongings.

Rich and poor alike streamed aboard the vessel, caught up in the heady excitement and determined to savour what was self-evidently one of the most important events in their lives. Coal barges had already filled the bunkers, and the decks had been sw