Buy this book
Books N Bytes participates in affiliate programs including Amazon Associates and Bookshop.org. We may earn a commission when you purchase through our links at no extra cost to you.
Murder on the Minnesota takes Conrad Allen's ocean-liner detectives George Porter Dillman and Genevieve Masefield onto a Pacific crossing in 1907, with a Japanese delegation, an American railroad heir, and the standard set of suspects with secrets. The crime, when it arrives, involves the heir and a piece of compromising correspondence.
Allen's strength is the texture of long sea voyages. The Pacific crossings on these turn-of-the-century ships had a different rhythm from the transatlantic runs, and Allen captures it: longer days, deeper boredom for the upper decks, more time for resentments to acquire weight. The investigation is competent. The Japanese delegation is treated with more nuance than I expected from a 2002 novel.
Three stars. Pleasant cozy reading. Best for fans of period detail rather than puzzle difficulty.
Related reads
If you liked Murder on the Minnesota
Murder on the Lusitania
by Conrad Allen
The first Dillman and Masefield ocean-liner mystery. Conrad Allen setting up the formula on the real RMS Lusitania.
Murder on the Caronia
by Conrad Allen
The fourth Dillman and Masefield. Cunard's newest liner, a music-hall act in steerage, and a body that should not have been found.
Murder on the Marmora
by Conrad Allen
The fifth Dillman and Masefield. Conrad Allen taking his ocean-liner detectives onto a P&O ship for the first time and getting more out of the change than expected.
Murder on the Salsette
by Conrad Allen
The sixth Dillman and Masefield. Bombay-to-London on the Salsette. Conrad Allen at his most relaxed and his most period-comfortable.
The Winter Queen
by Boris Akunin
The first Erast Fandorin novel. A young clerk in 1876 Moscow investigates an apparent suicide and falls down a labyrinth.
A Way With Widows
by Harold Adams
Another Carl Wilcox novel. Harold Adams at his most observational about how small communities deal with desire.
More by this author