Murder on the Salsette: A Mystery (A Shipboard Mystery Featuring George Porter Dillman & Genevieve Masefield) (Hardcover)

by Conrad Allen (Author) "Bombay was truly a meeting place of nations..." (more)
Key Phrases: dining saloon, three purses, ear trumpet, Madame Roussel, Guljar Singh, Miss Masefield (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
There's an undeniable elegance to Allen's series, which takes place on the great ships of the early twentieth century and features a pair of beguiling ship's detectives. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield are married now, but they conceal this fact as they work to uncover a series of jewelry thefts on the Salsette (which was sunk by the Germans in 1917). The action takes place on a drama-fraught four-day passage from Bombay to Aden in 1909: a young Indian girl is being taken to England as a servant, much against her will; a member of Parliament and his defeated opponent almost come to blows; a woman and her invalid mother play a vicious brand of bridge. A shipboard murder adds to the pressures on the sleuthing couple. Personalities are drawn in stereotypical strokes, from an Italian steward to a Hindi guru to a French seductress, but the ambience and engaging story make for lightly captivating reading. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"There's an undeniable elegance to Allen's series . . . the ambience and engaging story make for lightly captivating reading."
-- Booklist (Booklist ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur; 1st edition (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312307934
• ISBN-13: 978-0312307936
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #560,935 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Snobbery, imperialism and murder--on the Bombay/Aden run, August 25, 2005

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Cruise ship detectives George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, newly married but pretending to be single as they mingle with the rich and famous on pre-World War I cruise liners, are heading from Bombay in British India toward Aden. The Salsette is a fast and beautiful ship--and the purser assures them that there should be no problems. Unfortunately, this is not the case. A passenger's cabin is burglarized, purses are lifted, and a man is murdered in his stateroom. All of a sudden, all the pressure is on Dillman and Masefield to solve the crimes.

First, though, they need to determine whether there is a connection between the murder and the robberies. One thing for certain, someone did rob the dead man. But there are other motives for murder. The dead man had done his best to make enemies and, in fact, was visibly nervous before he was killed.

Author Conrad Allen makes his pre-WWI world of affluent imperialists come alive. Travelers worry about class, about who is satisfactory to be seen with, and about who might be properly snubbed. As an American with egalitarian leanings, Dillman comes in for more than his share of snubs. Beautiful (and English) Masefield is more accepted by the elite--although not by the first victim of the thief--a woman who definitely prefers men. Snobbery takes a nasty turn when it comes to how the English relate to the Indians, both back in India, and those who are traveling on the Salsette.

Conrad Allen provides a full serving of red herring, but I found this mystery to be a bit easy, and the social commentary to be a little repetitious. Still, it was pleasant to see Dillman and Masefield continuing to solve crimes together. The teenaged Lois Greenwood makes a charming character and the steward, Paulo Morelli adds a comic touch. Fans of the series will definitely want to see what Dillman and Masefield are up to now.

4.0 out of 5 stars Round up the usual suspects, March 19, 2009

By	Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As this sixth episode of the Shipboard Mystery series opens it is May 1909.

George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield have been married a few months but for professional purposes they continue the charade that they are business partners only. The pair are undercover detectives for the passenger ships that are the airliners of their day. No longer working just the transatlantic routes of the Cunard Line, the pair are once again on a P & O ship, this time the Salsette which makes four day runs between Aden and Bombay.

The wealth of the First and Second class passengers on these voyages has attracted thieves who attempt to divert some of it into their own pockets by various means. George and Genevieve have become quite adept at spotting card sharks, pickpockets, con artists and common thieves, they have even solved an astonishing numbers of murders. This trip proves to be no exception as they meet the usual cast of suspects, the over eager steward, the colonial colonel and his arrogant wife, an Indian mystic, a blowhard politician and his bullied family and others familiar characters from various books and films.

That a murder will occur, an innocent person will be accused and our heroes will triumph before the ship arrives at its destination are foregone conclusions. As always with the cozy genre the true attraction is the ongoing backstory between George and Genevieve. Herein lies a problem for the series. Most cozies involve not only the main characters but a large cast of secondary characters, either their local village or extended family or some other group. In this series though the only recurring characters are George and Genevieve, reducing the number of ongoing subplots considerably. Still the pair are charming, and the details of this by gone age of travel is interesting. The mysteries of this series are only mildly challenging but the stories are an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

3.0 out of 5 stars Cozy Caper on the High Seas, March 27, 2008

By	Kara J. Jorges "Avid Reader" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Murder on the Salsette: A Mystery (Shipboard Detectives Masefield) (Hardcover)

Married shipboard sleuthing pair, George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, are once again on the high seas, this time aboard the Salsette, sailing from India. Working undercover, George and Genevieve have separate accommodations in first class, settling in for an uneventful cruise which is soon livened up by a series of thefts and a murder. Genevieve doesn't hit it off with the mysterious first theft victim, Madame Roussel, but does make friends with young Tabitha Simcoe and her wheelchair-bound mother, Constance, who both seem addicted to playing bridge. Meanwhile, George befriends a rollerskating teenager and an old Indian man with mystical powers while seeming to get under the skin of a haughty, aristocratic couple traveling with a shy, young Indian servant girl.

As is common in cozies, the polite façade surrounding these class-conscious characters is only scant cover for their often ugly private motivations and hidden actions. By the time Genevieve and George solve their mysteries, several people are unmasked in many different ways. Though the mostly capable Genevieve annoyingly dissolves into a clinging vine sidekick who always defers to his superior experience and wisdom whenever in the presence of her husband, the mystery is well woven with several neatly tied-off subplots. While I probably won't seek out more Conrad Allen novels, I would probably pick another one up if I stumbled across it.