Death Under Sail [Paperback]

Charles Percy Snow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2008

Roger Mills, a Harley Street specialist, is taking a sailing holiday on the Norfolk Broads. When his six guests find him at the tiller of his yacht with a smile on his face and a gunshot through his heart, all six fall under suspicion in this, C P Snow's first novel.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

C.P. Snow was born in Leicester, on 15 October 1905. He was educated from age 11 at Alderman Newton's School for boys where he excelled in most subjects, enjoying a reputation for an astounding memory. In 1923 he gained an external scholarship in science at London University, whilst working as a laboratory assistant at Newton's to gain the necessary practical experience, because Leicester University, as it was to become, had no chemistry or physics departments at that time. Having achieved a first class degree, followed by a Master of Science he won a studentship in 1928 which he used to research at the famous Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Snow went on to become a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1930 where he also served as a tutor, but his position became increasingly titular as he branched into other areas of activity. In 1934, he began to publish scientific articles in Nature, and then The Spectator before becoming editor of the journal Discovery in 1937. However, he was also writing fiction during this period and in 1940 'Strangers and Brothers' was published. This was the first of eleven novels in the series and was later renamed 'George Passant' when 'Strangers and Brothers' was used to denote the series itself. Discovery became a casualty of the war, closing in 1940. However, by this time Snow was already involved with the Royal Society, who had organised a group to specifically use British scientific talent operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour. He served as the Ministry's technical director from 1940 to 1944. After the war, Snow became a civil service commissioner responsible for recruiting scientists to work for the government. He also returned to writing, continuing the Strangers and Brothers series of novels. 'The Light and the Dark' was published in 1947, followed by 'Time of Hope' in 1949, and perhaps the most famous and popular of them all, 'The Masters', in 1951. He planned to finish the cycle within five years, but the final novel 'Last Things' wasn't published until 1970. He married the novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson in 1950 and they had one son, Philip, in 1952. Snow was knighted in 1957 and became a life peer in 1964, taking the title Baron Snow of the City Leicester. He also joined Harold Wilson's first government as Parliamentary Secretary to the new Minister of Technology. When the department ceased to exist in 1966 he became a vociferous back-bencher in the House of Lords. After finishing the Strang

Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: House of Stratus (September 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842324209
• ISBN-13: 978-1842324202
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,548,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hopelessly outdated., June 3, 2005

By 

Michael G. "mikefromrochester" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Death Under Sail (Paperback)

Roger Mills is a physician and yachtsman. One fine September morning while at the tiller of his boat, The Siren, Dr. Mills is murdered. Shot through the heart at close range. The suspect list is a short one as there were only 6 others on board at the time. All of them the good doctor's invited guests.

Death Under Sail is one of those terribly clever British

"drawing room" murder mysteries. You know the kind of book I'm talking about. Someone is murdered early on and then an investigator with amazing powers of deduction is called upon to identify the perpetrator from amongst a finite collection of suspects. With said investigator usually revealing his or her findings in the course of a lengthy monologue at the novel's long awaited conclusion. The supersleuth in this particular case is known by the name of Finbow. Ian Capel, a friend of the victim, narrates the story and plays the part of Watson to Finbow's Holmes.

Finbow is a great believer in the role of psychology in crime solving and that's all well and good. Unfortunately, the type of psychology he uses is based on totally unproven stereotypic beliefs regarding gender, age, occupation and, above all else, social class.

C.P. Snow (1905-1980) mentions in the book's introduction that he was 26 years old when he wrote Death Under Sail. So this novel dates back to 1931 or perhaps slightly thereafter. Now this brand of "whodunit" may have been quite the rage back then, but there is very little in it to appeal to the modern reader. In other words, it flunks the test of time.

Death Under Sail is just too formulaic to distinguish itself from a host of similarly constructed detective novels. Finbow and the rest of the characters are never fully developed. And the entire narrative comes off as more of an exercise in mental gymnastics rather than a living breathing novel designed to engage the reader in any meaningful way. This book is of historical interest only. Those reading it for the type of enjoyment the author intended will be disappointed.