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Death Under Sail

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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.