Murder in the Submarine Zone

Sir Henry Merrivale #11

by Carter Dickson

Death sails aboard the Edwardic.

"Douse that light!" bawled a voice almost directly in his ear. He had not realized he was in the midst of a small crowd, until the bitter air was agitated by a dozen movements. Something hard, a shoulder or hand, struck him under the left shoulder-blade, pitching him forward. He knew a second of panic as the rail rushed at him, tilting over deeply to show him the phosphorescent wash boiling below. Just ahead of him, somebody reached out of darkness and struck at the hand that was holding the match. Its light went out.

"Don't you know better than to show a light on deck?" demanded the voice of the third officer.

"Theres a man overboard," Hooper managed to stutter out. "Spang down he went, splash bang, with a bullet in the back of his head. I evan saw the chap who shot him. For God's sake don't stand there and fuss about matches. There's a man overboard."

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, American, Golden Age Mystery, 20th Century

253 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

About the author

Carter Dickson is a pen name of writer John Dickson Carr.

Reviews

[Kavita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just brilliant!

John Dickson Carr / Carter Dickson is one of the masters of locked room mysteries. In this book, a woman is murdered in cold blood in a ship in the middle of the sea. Nine passengers and the crew, but it looks unlikely that anyone would have reason to murder her. Moreover, the fingerprints found at the scene of crime do not match anyone else's in the ship. Oh, what a lovely setting!

The story takes place in the middle of World War II and there is all the accompanying military and war talk. I would say the book has not aged well since the reader would simply not have the knowledge regarding many of the things used for finally ferreting out the killer. Things like shaving brushes, army uniforms, old-fashioned fingerprinting - who has knowledge about them these days? But for me, these are the things that provided a delightful nostalgic feeling to the story.

The atmosphere was loaded with tension, what with fear of being attacked by the enemy and then a killer loose within the ship. Suspense just increased with every page, culminating in a wonderful denouement by Henry Merrivale.

The ending was a little ruined for me by a sudden and completely incomprehensible love angle. There was no clue that these two were in love and they didn't even like each other much, but at the end they were talking about jumping into the sea for each other. Eh? Just wish mystery authors would cut out the romance angle if they can't make it fit into the story. But otherwise, everything else in the book was great.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It takes a brave soul to choose to cross the Atlantic aboard a liner during wartime, especially when that liner is carrying a cargo of explosives. Yet nine individuals have decided to do just that, booking passage in New York aboard the M.V. Edwardic. As they set sail for Britain they do so knowing that death is a very real prospect, only to encounter it unexpectedly when one of the passengers is found in their cabin with their throat cut. As seemingly promising clues result in dead ends, the ship’s captain decides that he has no choice but to ask for the assistance of one of the passengers: the famous amateur detective, Sir Henry Merrivale.

It was the premise of John Dickson Carr’s novel – published under his pseudonym Carter Dickson – that led me to read it, as while I have read several British “Golden Age” murder mysteries, all of them were set either before or after the Second World War. Reading one set amidst the war itself promised a different setting for the telling of a classic mystery. The war proves to be incidental to the plot, however, which could function without it with only a few minor changes. This leaves the novel to stand entirely on its merits as a murder-mystery, which it does for the most part. Despite some minor issues with characterization, the puzzles Carr provides are good ones, and the resolution is satisfying, making for a satisfying work by a master of his craft.

[James Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review -- https://jamesscottbyrnside.com/2023/0...

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

January 1940. The story takes place on an ocean liner, the Edwardic, which has been converted to wartime use and carries a minimum number of passengers, a huge load of munitions, and one stowaway--murder. The passengers aboard ship are those in a big enough hurry to make the crossing from New York to England that they could stand the danger of entering the submarine zone with a boatload of explosives. Those passengers include a newspaper reporter recovering from a dangerous fall while covering a fire, a member of the NYPD on his way to collect a dangerous criminal, a blonde wrapped in sable with a mysteriously bulging pocketbook, a young woman with a mysterious mission, a French captain who is only seen at mealtime, the younger son of a Lord who has a serious case of seasickness (or the worst hangover ever...we're not too sure, a doctor, and British businessman who talks like a car salesman.

When Mrs. Zia Bey, the woman with the bulging bag, winds up murdered, Max Matthews--the reporter and brother of the ship's captain--is sure the arrogant young woman with the secret is involved. But there are too many questions that need answers--questions that don't seem to point to Miss Valerie Chatford. Whose fingerprints are pressed in blood on the murder woman's back? And why don't those prints match anyone on board? Who had been throwing knives in the passageway late at night? Who was the man wearing the gas mask and poking his head into other passengers' compartments? Fortunately, there is one more passenger on board the Ewardic...the Old Man himself, Sir Henry Merrivale. If anyone can figure this screwy case out, it's H.M.

I enjoyed this so much more than the last ship-board mystery by Dickson/Carr (The Case of the Blind Barber). That one came across as too much slap-stick and over-the-top. And there was not nearly enough of Gideon Fell. I was beginning to think that we were going the same route here with Merrivale--he doesn't show up until almost half-way through the book, but once he does, he's very present with all his "Burn mes!" and "for the love of Esaus!" And, of course, he spots all the clues that went right over my head. I should have noticed them, but I was too busy being entertained by H.M.

I do have a couple of complaints though...First, why do all the little romances have to start off with the guy and the gal at odds? They both think the other is insufferable until suddenly at the very end (with no scenes to indicate a change in mood) they realize they can't do without one another. Seriously? And, second, I was expecting a motive with a little more oomph to it. Especially with all the certain kind of overtones we get (can't explain...because spoilers). It just seemed to fall a little flat. Otherwise, this would have been a five-star winner--great characters, I love a mystery on a ship, nicely done clues (that I missed), and a lot of fun with Merrivale. As it is...★★★★

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Phil Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read ever of this classic heavyweight author from the Golden Age of Detective fiction. Set on a liner carrying munitions in the Atlantic in World War 2. A closed circle of suspects, an impossible crime and a likeable detective. I'll definitely read more from this author!

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of those thoroughly absorbing mysteries by Carr ...and he is nearly at his best here .
The setting of a munition ship crossing the atlantic during 2nd world war is described so well and the atmosphere is sketched so masterfully its difficult to keep this book down . On top of the ever present threat of being blown sky high by a torpedo , there is the threat of a razor wielding ghost murderer on a perpetually blacked out ship travelling in a cold grey month of January .
Whose is the fingerprint if there is no stowaway ? what is a inkpot doing in a ladies bag ? who is the spy and who is the traitor ?

Everything is solved by the old man ultimately and the reader is left marveling at the masterful misdirection and the twisted knot created by Carr that seems so simple once explained .

This book does not suffer from the undue interruptions to keep or extend the suspense.. no one really barges in just at the point of a big reveal .

For those who have not read any Carr before , this would be a very good one to start ..even though its about halfway of the Merrivale series .

Highly recommended.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carter Dickson (what John Dickson Carr called himself in his locked-room Sir Henry Merrivale mysteries) created a good setting for a wartime mystery: an ocean liner running munitions for the English in early 1940. Steaming through a storm, its crew alert for u-boats, caring a half million pounds of explosives, and with a shady group of passengers (more than one of the passengers gets murdered, after all, out of a population of nine), the SS Edwardic has the plotting advantage of providing one large locked room in the shape of the ship itself.

The writing (Merivale's dialogue excepted) is more than competent, but the execution of the plotting has flaws, and the characters (the young woman aside) have quirks without having memorable personal qualities. Merivale, like Gideon Fell, is all bluster. When he detects something, we're not in on how he did it. The setting, which promises much, isn't used to full advantage; e.g., blackout conditions reduce much of the action on deck at night to something out of a Marx Brothers film, minus the humor.

[Luís · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leitura muito agradável quase estragada pelo facto de as folhas do livro se terem ido soltando, à medida que a minha leitura avançava.
Sir Henry Merrivale, em pleno Oceano Atlantico, tem que desvendar alguns crimes.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buena novela como es acostumbrado en Carter Dickson. Algunos detalles no pueden ser deducidos por el lector en general, pero dentro de todo el fial no deja dudas de quien es el único posible culpable.

[JDL · Rating 4 out of 5]

At not even 200 pages, this was a very fast and engrossing read for me - only two days! Carr was able to keep the tension up for the entire novel with the unique situations throughout the book, and the solution is startling, jaw-dropping, but ultimately believable and really a good one.

[thearcher89 · Rating 4 out of 5]

As to be expected from Carr, a good exciting mystery.

I had a different assumption about fingerprints. Not sure it will really work, although Carr footnoted an actual case where that happened. And the person would have noticed surely?

[Tamzida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a terrific one from Carr, the solution is truly ingenious.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Danish.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love locked room mysteries! This novel is a locked room puzzle set inside a luxury ship fitted for carrying munitions just before hostilities really began in World War II. There are a small number of passengers, plenty of plot twists, and interesting characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Iqbal Bakhsh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was the weakest. Not quite FairPlay. Also quite slow.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very tense tale. This is essentially a locked room mystery, taking place on a ship, going through submarine-infested waters in World War II. The romance was implausible but otherwise a good read.

[Dawn Tyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant locked room type mystery from the best in the business. Perfectly paced, well plotted and suspenseful. Packs a lot into so few pages and is hard to put down.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review, click the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOTTOM LINE: Sir Henry Merrivale has a stormy Atlantic boat crossing but solves another mystery in this tightly plotted classic tale, which has a traditional style closed room puzzle, albeit with slight wartime (1940) trappings. Many of the twists are now fairly easy to guess, but the quality of the writing is very high, the romance level low. A nice treat for those who enjoy reading about this time period.

The death of A Dangerous Woman while on board a British ship carrying munitions as it crosses the North Atlantic during wartime, brings many questions, including: what was she guarding so closely, and who left the bloody fingerprints in her cabin? The gently irascible Sir Henry is thorough, quiet, and careful as he works his way through many well-placed twists and turns in this atmospheric tale.

It's a comfortable read with not too much war relevance, a classic “closed community” tale, masterfully spun, with excellent pacing and a superb denouement. I didn’t much enjoy the one Henri Beaucoin story I read of his, but I’ve previously also enjoyed his Colonel March short stories and several Merrivale short stories.

[March · Rating 4 out of 5]

The unique setting--a blacked-out ship crossing the Atlantic submarine zone during WWII--is the best of it. There is only one impossible angle--the fingerprints business--and despite corroborating footnotes I am not convinced (a) that the killer could depend on it to work and (b) that people wouldn't see the, er, correspondence between the prints right away. Whodunnit is fairly easy to guess on Clark Kent grounds, although the main clue needed to reason it out requires arcane knowledge of military dress. Characters are flat (with the usual ineptly handled romance--Carr/Dickson never learned to play to his strengths when it came to this!) so it is a great relief when HM finally shows up in the middle of the book--although even when he does, we are not treated to the usual sequence of ingenious false solutions that distinguish the first-rank Dicksons and Carrs.

[Angshuman Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Henry Merrivale novel that I've read, and my favorite Carr thus far. Carr, writing as Carter Dickson here, is a well-known master of atmosphere. However, unlike most of Carr's Gideon Fell novels that I've read, the atmosphere here is not Gothic. Instead, the backdrop of the Second World War feels real, and brings with it its own sense of a claustrophobia on board a ship sailing dangerous waters.
Henry Merrivale is a typically boisterous, larger-than-life figure that was so common as the detective those days, and comes up with a solid piece of deduction by elimination to unveil the murderer, albeit a slight discrepancy in reasoning that only the most nitpicky of readers will notice. The late blooming of romance was unnecessary, filmy, and jarring, but was thankfully restricted to a couple of lines.

[SuedePuzzler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A youngish man, the type will be recognized from many of Carr's books, is sailing back to England on a ship during the early parts of WW2. (France has not yet fallen, and Italy has not joined the war.) There are only nine passengers on the ship, that would normally have many more, and the threat of submarine attacks is ever-present. And is there a spy aboard?

The passengers and crew also has to deal with a baffling murder mystery. Fortunately, Sir Henry Merrivale is one of the passengers and he takes charge of the investigation.

Brilliant solution to the puzzle, and great atmosphere.

[F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than I expected once looking past the implausible premise.

The setting was intriguing but I can't help thinking that so much more could have been done with it, the same as in the Blind Barber. This one is still much better.

Concerning the solution, I'm not a fan of disguise tricks but I guess they had not yet been overused at the time. The rest of the plan was ingenious and I could only guess bits and pieces of the final solution.

Most suspects lack good characterization and the ending was suddenly sappy out of nowhere. Other than that, a good mystery.

[Ala]

As usual with Dickson Carr, there's a clever plot and a fun twist: many readers would expect an additional person on board, here it turns out we actually have less people there than we thought. Sadly, also as usual, the male protagonist gets entangled in a tedious love story.

The average modern reader doesn't have the knowledge helpful to solve this one, in my opinion (I certainly didn't), but it's still a very decent murder mystery.

[Karin Dubbelve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memorable for the tense, claustrophobic atmosphere of the almost empty ship, making it's way through submarine waters with a cargo of ammunition and a murderer on board. The mystery is competent enough, but not quite as interesting as the growing suspicion, fear and desperation among passengers and crew.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the setting for this one.No mansions in the English countryside,but a ship headed for England across the sub infested,highly dangerous waters of WW2.As is usual with Carr,the solution is implausible,the romance aspect cloying,but as always,gripping and highly entertaining.Carr is one of my favourite authors and this has just gone into my top 1o of his books.Highly recommended!

[Andy Plonka · Rating 5 out of 5]

t is easy to see why the golden age mysteries are still viable after so many years. They depend on getting the reader primed to think one way so he is surprised when the truth is something different. This one, a locked room type aboard a ship on a transatlantic crossing does just that.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great mystery for a transatlantic crossing--a blacked-out ship carrying munitions, an impossible crime, murder in the submarine zone. Just subtract the clumsy characterizations (at least of the women) and it would be perfect.

[Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another whodunnit on a ship from the man behind Cabin B-13? Sign me up. Overall, it was a pretty good mystery greatly enhanced by the submarine zone atmosphere. I'd rank this one higher than his other, campy mystery on a ship, The Blind Barber, starring Fell.

[Life · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unique setup with fingerprints that seem to match nobody, and the solution for this is quite clever, though taken from real life, but the way that Carr intertwines this with the other elements of his mystery plot is what really makes this book shine.