Dangerous Sea: The Fourth in the Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne Murder Mystery Series [Hardcover]

David Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne Murder Mystery Series | Publication Date: October 16, 2003

Optioned by Columbia for a major motion picture, this new who-dunit continues the popular series. It features one of the most perfectly mismatched pairs of sleuths in British mystery fiction: the aristocratic Lord Edward Corinth and left-wing journalist Verity Browne. In a lively new adventure, Verity finds herself, despite her communist sympathies, traveling in a first-class cabin of the elegant, luxuriously appointed RMS Queen Mary. And not Edward Corinth but the handsome and charismatic Sam Forrest, an American labor-union organizer, occupies the quarters next door. However, Corinth is on board—at the behest of the eminent British economist Lord Benyon, who has scheduled a top-secret meeting regarding his country’s rearmament with President Roosevelt in the United States. Only the secret is out, and someone wants Lord Benyon out of the way. But it’s U.S. Senator George Earle Day who turns up dead. An inflammatory right-wing racist, Day has managed to make many enemies among the ship’s passengers, most notably the politically controversial black American singer and actor Warren Fairley, his Hollywood starlet wife, a leading German-Jewish aeronautical engineer, a charming American socialite of dubious pedigree, and an effete English art dealer whose curiosity is outstripped by his deceit.

Editorial Reviews

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.

About the Author

David Roberts worked in publishing for over thirty years, most recently as a director, before devoting his energies to writing full time. He is married and divides his time between London and Wiltshire. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (October 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712155
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712151
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleuths, a Boat Load of Suspects and a Killer. All Aboard!, November 28, 2003

By 

Vesta Irene (the Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Sea: The Fourth in the Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne Murder Mystery Series (Hardcover)

It's 1937, spring and the Queen Mary is crossing the atlantic, bound for the United States. Aboard is British economist Lord Benyon whose on a mission from his government to convince President Roosevelt to give Great Britain money and arms in preparation for a possible war with Germany.

Lord Edward Corinth, younger brother of the Duke of Mersham, has been asked to keep a discrete eye on Benyon, in other words to act as his unofficial body guard, as Special Branch has learned that there are forces that want to prevent Benyon from completing his mission and that they'll stop at nothing. Of course Corinth has Verity Browne on board with him, his detective sidekick from Robert's past three novels (SWEET POISON, HOLLOW CROWN and BONES OF THE BURIED) and she is the real star of the show in my opinion.

The first body is found hanging in the cold storage, very naked. The second is a rabid anti-communist, raciest American senator from South Carolina. And now we have a mystery with a boat load of first class suspects, one of whom is most definitely a killer, and is Lord Benyon still in danger? What do you think?

DANGEROUS SEA had me guessing and re-guessing as I eagerly read through the pages. Lord Benyon was sufficiently quirky with his Shakespearian and Biblical quotes, among others and Verity Browne is the kind of character that gets better with each book and this wonderful mystery gets five stars from me.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystrey Maven, March 15, 2006

By 

Mystery Maven "Mystery Maven" (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dangerous Sea: The Fourth in the Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne Murder Mystery Series (Hardcover)

I am hooked on this series by David Roberts. I love the characters and the story lines - there are several - are engaging and challenging. I'd recommend all the Lord Corinth/Verity Browne mysteries to fans of Hercule, Jane and even Morse!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars How dumb, June 12, 2004

By 

"onionbulb" (San Martin, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Sea: The Fourth in the Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne Murder Mystery Series (Hardcover)

The book is set in 1936 and paints a great picture of life on board the Queen Mary. Everything was fine until the last few pages when the ship arrives in NY and sails under the Verrazano Bridge. Say what? The bridge opened in 1965. You have to wonder how much of the "facts" of Queen Mary and shipboard life were made up. I find it horrible that the author made such a blunder with the real facts. Completely ruined the book for me