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THE SUNKEN SAILOR
by Elizabeth Foxwell, editor
Berkley, March 2005
280 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 042520202X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

In a round robin, where a story is written one chapter after another by different writers, THE SUNKEN SAILOR is a mystery story created by 14 well-known authors. Starting with the classic theme of a get-together in an English castle in the time between the World Wars, a visiting American Admiral is soon found bludgeoned and floating in the decorative fountain in the garden. There the mystery begins.

Amongst the contributing writers are Simon Brett, Sharan Newman, Francine Mathews, Walter Satterthwait, Margaret Coel, Carolyn Hart, Carolyn Wheat, Dorothy Cannell, Deborah Crombie, Alexandra Ripley, Eileen Dreyer, Jan Burke, Sarah Smith and Edward Marston. Some are respected mystery writers, some are romance people and by the end of this book all must be deeply embarrassed.

THE SUNKEN SAILOR starts off as a fine mystery with many classic elements of the British murder cozy: English gentry with missing family members must deal with foreigners of differing believability and refinement, added to that are elements of blackmail and murder that are done with taste and class.

The first writers do their best to flesh out the characters and clues are added one by one. It's done well at beginning, but after a few chapters some contributing writers obviously didn't do their homework of reading the previous chapters to build upon. Some went so far as to change almost everything about the story. A few single-handedly destroyed what the others tried to do, changing every clue, until the result becomes all silliness. By the end I was expecting a spaceship to land on the lawn to finish off any respect the readers could have had for the story.

A few contributors, especially Jan Burke, did their absolute best to make the story thoughtful for the readers, but by the end the tale became slapstick and sloppy, better befitting of a free holiday tale presented to the fans of these writers on a website, with the caveat that the more you drink the better this story reads. But as a book that's being published and sold to readers looking for a great mystery by good writers, this book is a complete waste of time.

I was terribly disappointed in THE SUNKEN SAILOR. The only solid mystery of this book is to wonder why the publisher wanted to insult the readers by charging good money for this fiasco.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, March 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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