Review: Death on the Lusitania

For all the historical fiction I read, I didn’t know much about the RMS Lusitania. I vaguely recalled something from history class telling me it sank but that was about it - I didn’t know when, how, or why. Enter Death on the Lusitania by R.L. Graham, a husband and wife author team. (Sadly, Marilyn Livingstone was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away while the book was being written.) This novel is the first in a historical mystery series and I was interested because the authors were born in Canada, I didn’t know much about the ship, I like historical mysteries, and, well, that cover! Isn’t it stunning? The story held between the gorgeous covers kept me interested and I really wasn’t sure whodunit until all was revealed!

Here’s the book’s description:

Welcome on board the Lusitania’s final voyage . . .
New York, 1915. RMS Lusitania, one of the world’s most luxurious trans-Atlantic liners, departs for Liverpool and war-torn Europe. Among those on board is Patrick Gallagher, a civil servant in Her Majesty’s government tasked with discreetly escorting a British diplomat back to England in relation to charges of suspected treason.
When a fellow passenger, Jimmy Dowrich, is found shot to death in his cabin, the captain asks Gallagher to investigate. Knowing something of the man’s past, Gallagher realizes that the problem will not be simple; and also, the body was discovered in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun to be found.
Gallagher believes that one of his fellow passengers is a deadly killer. But many of those on board are harbouring secrets of their own, and his questioning reveals that several had a motive for ending Dowrich’s life. He fears that the killer could strike again to protect their true reasons for being on board and all the while, the ship sails on towards Europe, where deadly submarines patrol the war zone . . .

I liked that Graham chose to have a countdown to the sinking of the ship at the start of each chapter. A bit morbid, yes, but it amped up the tension that was already present in the novel in a really good way. You know the ship is doomed but, oh by the way, people are being murdered on board, too! As if the guests didn’t have enough to worry about, sailing into a warzone and all. That part did make me think about what I would have done in the guests’ position. Would I have still chosen to sail, knowing there was a very real chance a U-boat would torpedo the ship?

Since I didn’t remember much about the Lusitania other than it had sank at some point in history, I definitely didn’t know that there was a second explosion after the torpedo hit the ship and the reason for that second explosion has never been determined, at least not definitively. She was carrying ammunition, though she was not armed, so it’s possible that some of her cargo was the cause of the second explosion. Graham took that possibility and wondered, “what if this happened?” And this became Death on the Lusitania. They were clear from the outset that they were reimagining history, to an extent, and I appreciated both the note and their creativity.

The historical aspect may have charmed me ever so slightly more than the mystery in this novel, but that’s not to say I was unimpressed with the case. This is the set up to the start of a series starring Patrick Gallagher, who is, ostensibly, a civil servant for His Majesty’s government (something I realized while writing this review - the book's description says “Her” Majesty but there was a King on the throne in 1915, George V - grandson of Queen Victoria and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II). With the Captain (the only real character in the book) slightly occupied with getting his ship through the war zone in one piece, he tasks Gallagher with figuring out who decided Dowrich wouldn’t live to see the ship’s destination. While I questioned some of Gallagher’s methods (sometimes it seemed like he was giving away too much, like, “Was it so-and-so who told you such-and-such?” and the suspect says, “Why, yes!” but…was it or did they just grab hold of a piece of information that’ll help them?), I still couldn’t put together who the murderer was. Part of me wonders if I couldn’t figure it out because it just wasn’t well done and was far too confusing. But I’m choosing to give Graham the benefit of the doubt since everything else was so well written.

Death on the Lusitania was a really solid start to a new historical mystery series. I don’t know if R.L. Graham will continue with the series now but I do hope to see another Patrick Gallagher mystery in the future.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*