After House

The year is 1907. Dr. Ralph Leslie has just earned his medical degree, but the sterile halls of hospitals hold no appeal. What calls to him is the open sea. He signs on as a deck steward aboard the schooner Ella, seeking adventure, escape, freedom. What he finds is something far more dangerous. The Ella carries more than cargo. Passengers and crew bring their grudges aboard, and the ship's liquor flows freely. By the second night at sea, old resentments have ignited into something lethal. When a body drops, Dr. Leslie faces a different kind of emergency. With the ship miles from shore and the killer still aboard, he must use his trained eye to read the lies, untangle the secrets, and get everyone back to port before another passenger dies. Rinehart was the queen of American mystery, and this is her at her finest: a locked-room thriller at sea, where every passenger hides something and the only doctor onboard must become a detective. It's propulsive, atmospheric, and relentlessly entertaining.