Murder on the Mamora by Conrad Allen
This is the fifth adventure with George Porter Dillman and Genevieve Masefield. They have moved from the Cunard Line to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). The explanation given is that too many trips on any one ship or with any one line will make it easier to pick out the undercover detectives on the ship, but truly I think the author wanted to use other ships and feature other historical characters. This trip was on the P&O Mamora from England to Port Said, Egypt and then on to Australia. While I enjoy being on other cruise lines than Cunard, I wish the author was a bit more descriptive as to the exact ports, as he was in the forty few adventures. I am just as interested in the geography as I am in the story.
This adventure also features the Duke and Duchess of Fife and their children, Princesses Alexandra and Maud. While they are minor characters, they’re presence does have an effect on the plot. But my personal opinion is the author picked this particular voyage so that he could use the real people as characters in his novel. Nothing is wrong with that, and it does give an authentic feel to the fiction, but it feels a bit too convenient to not have been purposely planned.
Overall, it was a fun adventure. Like the other books I have been re-reading in this series, I remember more about the secondary and minor characters than I do about the plot. Following along as George and Genevieve work to solve the mysteries, I was pleased I could not remember whodunit. That made it feel like a real visit with old friends, rather than a re-run. I re-read a good number of books, because I feel books are friends, and I always enjoy visits with old friends. With mystery novels, it’s nice to not completely remember the plot details. I find it’s more fun to figure out the mystery again.
This episode featured Genevieve’s former financé as a character, but I think that was more to move the romance sub-plot along than anything else. Editors leave very little superfluous information or action in books these days. I’m sure if Dickens, Tolstoy, or Dumas had to get published in today’s environment, they would end up self-publishing for Kindle and get nothing but bad reviews. Neither modern editors nor readers put up with too much digression or needless wandering description. Even the choice of words is criticized, flowing, flowery language with words that send readers to the dictionary is frowned upon — and more’s the pity. But the appearance of the former financé serves the purpose and the romance between George and Genevieve takes a hop forward. It’s a subplot I enjoy, but at the same time I would not be sorry of it were not a feature of the books at all. Sometimes romance only serves to complicate things.
It was a fun book to read, and to re-read. I would have enjoyed more detail about the ship, including deck plans, as well as more information about the itinerary and ports, even those that were merely service calls for bunkering.
One Bear’s Opinion: Four Glasses of Hibiscus Tea with Kataifi Pastries
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
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