The Titanic Murders

This is quite fun: by taking the great disaster as a backdrop to a murder mystery, the author makes himself three great gifts:

1. The opportunity to ladle on titanic levels of dramatic irony;
2. The opportunity for fun with real-life characters (Jack Futrelle as detective);
3. The opportunity to explore the implications for morality of an enclosed world where there will be no tomorrow (at least from the moment that the realisation that the ship is sinking sinks in).

The first two of these Collins exploits with gusto, the third less so; he has done his research: he recreates with loving attention to detail the appearance and atmosphere on board the sinkable unsinkable liner; he knows who was there; he knows what was on the menu, what music show more was played, etc. etc.

Using the (wholly factual) fictional mystery writer Jack Futrelle (inventor of that other Sherlock Holmes, Prof S.F.X. Van Dusen, aka The Thinking Machine) as the character through whom this other (fictional) blackmail mystery is told is an inspired idea.

But...

Since we know that, before very long, the ship will sink, (nearly) all will be lost and justice will go undone, it does become very difficult to care, at least about the whodunnit.

I suppose, though, just as the prologue of a Shakespearean play gives the ending away before the action has even begun, our pleasure must here, too, come from the way in which the story is told, rather than any sense of surprise in how it ends.

And the way in which this story is told is ... fun.

Just don't expect great depths - except for the obvious ones. show less

Author Max Collins has given his readers an interesting mystery: what if a murder had been committed on the Titanic before it struck the iceberg? On board in this work of fiction are the people who really were on board, including mystery writer and journalist Jacques Futrelle. When a body is discovered, likely murdered and not deceased through natural causes, Futrelle is pressed into service to find the guilty party. To complicate matters, the dead man was a blackmailer who had several “clients” on the ship. The novel is a quick and entertaining read, dealing with life on the ship and folllows Futrelle as he chases down clues. It’s a good mystery that doesn’t dwell on the actual sinking.

The Titanic Murders is the second of Collins' disaster series that I have read. He is a master and blending factual history and entertaining fiction. This involves two murders on the Titanic and blackmail. It has wonderful descriptions of the Titanic and the activities and people on board. Good plotting. Very enjoyable.

This was an interesting murder mystery set on the doomed liner, in that all the characters and suspects are real historical figures, many of them the famous names like Astor, Guggenheim, Strauss and Margaret (Molly) Brown. The central character is the mystery novelist Jacques Futrelle, who created a fictional detective who solved crimes using logic and deduction a la Sherlock Holmes. Here he tries to get to the bottom of the murder of two passengers (real names on the list of dead, but about whom nothing is known), who have apparently been blackmailing some of the wealthy and well known First Class passengers, as well as others in Second Class and among the servants of these passengers. The blackmailers identify some weaknesses in each show more of their victims, based on historically known facts. The author thereby concocts an interesting mystery based on entirely real historical figures and incidents, within the framework of a supposed story told to the author by Futrelle's real daughter, Virginia. It also provides a possible explanation as to why the ship was travelling so fast and why the boat drill on the final day was cancelled. Futrelle solves the mystery and is in a positive frame of mind after a good dinner on Sunday night "when something jarred him awake - an unexpected jostle that was the first sign since he'd boarded that he was on a ship, not in a hotel". The main narrative of the story then ends, with an epilogue explaining the real fates of the characters. A good, well constructed novel. show less

3.5 Stars, rounded up to 4. This was an enjoyable book, although it did take a while to get going as the feel for being on the Titanic was developed. As the book went on though it did fully engage me and I enjoyed the writing style. Not surprised the first person who was killed was murdered, I think that I might have been tempted as well. Lol! The author did an excellent job of mixing fact and fiction and it just makes you wonder! The book felt quite sad towards the end as you knew what was coming and you had grown attached to the characters by then. It was quite a quick read, and this was a very slight weakness as it left you wanting some more. I definitely think I'll read other books by this author.

Very well researched and thoughtfully done. Skillful use of the mystery as the tree on which he could hang the necessary Titanic cast of characters

I thought that the premise of this book was absolutely fascinating. the idea of writer/journalist on the Titanic being confronted with two murders was a little ordinary but the way that the story was handled was quite unique in its narrative.