Girl From Malta

The story opens on the decks of the P&O liner Neptune, somewhere in the warm waters between Australia and England. Ronald Monteith, a wealthy young Australian with time on his hands and money in his pocket, strikes up a conversation with fellow passenger Lionel Ventin. But this casual shipboard acquaintance soon becomes something far darker. Ventin, haunted and secretive, confides his tragic history to Monteith before the night is done, and by morning, he lies dead in his cabin, stabbed through the heart. Monteith vows to find the killer. Ventin spoke of a vengeful wife; surely she is responsible. But when the ship docks in London and Monteith throws himself into the investigation with the help of a barrister and a detective, the evidence begins pointing in an unbearable direction. The woman he has fallen in love with, the mysterious girl from Malta, may be more tangled in Ventin's death than he dare admit. As reason and passion war within him, Monteith must confront an unsettling question: can he trust his own heart when it has chosen a suspect? Girl From Malta is a glittering Victorian sensation novel, rich with period atmosphere, exotic intrigue, and the particular cruelty of loving someone who may be a murderer. It is for readers who cherish the Gothic pleasures of Wilkie Collins and the relentless momentum of the classic locked-room mystery.