Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

As this is posted, it’s 406 years since the Mayflower set sail from Southampton, bound for the New World. The passengers didn’t really know what they would face in their new home, and the voyage itself was fraught with risk. But the ship made it across the ocean and into history books. Voyages can be like that; even the most luxurious trip can lead to disaster (Titanic, anyone…). But a trip like that can add tension, suspense, and layers of plot to a story. And if you think about it, that makes sense. After all, anything can happen on a voyage, and anything can happen after arriving.

For example, in Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit, Anne Beddingfield finds herself at loose ends after the death of her father. She doesn’t want to stay in London, but she isn’t sure what she wants to do. One day, she happens to be near a train station when a man falls (or is pushed) under an oncoming train. Anne happens to get her hands on a piece of paper that fell out of the dead man’s pocket and works out that it’s a reference to the upcoming sailing of the HMS Kilmorden Castle for Cape Town. On a whim, she books passage. The voyage itself is suspenseful, as odd and mysterious things happen. But Anne makes it to Cape Town. When she gets there, she finds herself caught up in a web of stolen jewels and international intrigue. It’s safe to say that the voyage changes her life.

A voyage also turns out to be life-changing in Séan Haldane’s The Devil’s Making. In it, we meet Chad Hobbes. It’s 1868, and he’s just finished his degree in Jurisprudence at Oxford. He’s decided to see a bit of the world before he settles down to adult life and work. So, armed with a letter of introduction to the Governor, he voyages to Victoria, British Columbia. There, he’s given a position as a constable. That usually means settling fights between drunks and clearing out areas of prostitution, gambling, and so on. But one day, he’s alerted to a murder. The body of a man later identified as Richard McCrory has been discovered, and Hobbes will be responsible for finding out what happened. At first, it’s believed that a Tsimshian man called Wiladzap is responsible for the murder. But his partner claims he is innocent. So, Hobbes decides to ask some questions. As the story goes on, we see how the voyage to Canada and his experiences there have changed Hobbes.

Jock Serong’s Preservation begins in 1797. Lieutenant Joshua Grayling, who lives and works in Sydney, investigates a very strange case. A ship called The Sydney Cove was scheduled to travel to Sydney but wrecked near what is now Tasmania. Seventeen men decided to make the journey to Sydney by land, but only three arrived. It’s now Grayling’s job to find out what happened. At first, he doesn’t get much help from the survivors, but little by little, he finds out the truth. And in the novel, we learn about the original voyage, the disaster in Tasmania, and what befell the sailors on the way to Sydney. As the story goes on, we see how much danger sea voyages can bring, and not only from storms and sea creatures…

One plot thread of Peter May’s Entry Island takes place during the Highland Clearances of the 19^th Century. At the time, many highlanders were forced to leave land their families had owned for generations, so that wealthy landowners could use the land for grazing and other purposes. In the novel, Sime Mackenzie is one of those people whose families are forced out. He ends up on a ship bound for Canada. The trip is difficult, and not everyone makes it to Canada. But Sime does, and he begins a new life in Québec. Generations later, his descendent, also called Sime Mackenzie, is a police detective who is faced with a murder that may be related to that long-ago voyage.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s The Silence of the Sea begins with the crash of a luxury yacht into a pier at Reykjavík. Strangely, there’s no-one on board the yacht, although there are signs that the boat was occupied. The crash is all over the news, so attorney Thóra Guðmundsdóttir is well aware of what happened when she gets a visit from Margeir Karelsson and his wife, Sigrídur Veturlidadóttir. They tell her that their son Ægir, his wife Lára, and their twin daughters Arna and Bylgija were on board the yacht. They haven’t returned home, and there’s no incontrovertible proof that they were on the boat, but Thóra’s visitors are convinced that they were, and now they want help to navigate the insurance and other legal matters. Thóra agrees to help, knowing that she’ll have to prove to the insurance company’s satisfaction that the family members are dead. As she begins to look into the case, the body of one of the crew members is discovered. Now, the police get involved, and an investigation begins. As the story goes on, we learn that the yacht was en route from Lisbon to Reykjavík, because the company that Ægir worked for was repossessing the boat, and the family was returning it. Little by little, we learn what really happened in dual timelines. One tells the story of Thóra’s search for the truth. The other follows the family as they board the yacht and embark on the voyage from Lisbon. It’s a dark story of what can happen on sea voyages.

And that’s the thing about sea travel. It can be wonderful, and there are lots of stories about fantastic trips. But it doesn’t always work out that way…

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Billy Joel’s The Downeaster “Alexa.”