THE TITANIC MURDERS

 

THE TITAN MURDERS

By Max Allan Collins

Thomas & Mercer Books

251 pgs

 

Born in 1875, Jacques Futrelle was a journalist turned mystery writer. He is best known for writing the short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S.F.X . Van Dusen known at The Thinking Machine for his use of logic. While on a European tour with his wife, May, in 1912, Futrelle became melancholy missing their two teenage children. Shorty after his 37^th birthday on April 9, he opted to cut the trip short and return to America. He booked passage for both of them on the newly christened cruise ship R.M.S. Titanic. Six days later, after assuring May’s safety in one of the few lifeboats, Futrelle become on hundreds of victims to drown as the unsinkable ship sank into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic; one of the most notorious tragedies in world history.   

A fan of the late writer’s works, Max Allan Collins makes him the hero “The Titanic Murders.” Once again employing meticulously researched data, Collins takes us back in time to a different age where people thought anything was possible. He details not only the magnificent ship, a true marvel of engineering, but introduces us to a small group of the some of the most famous and powerful people in America at that time. Among them is a pair of unscrupulous blackmailers who have hatched an audacious scheme to extort money from these rich celebrities.  

Meanwhile Jack, as he preferred to be called, and his beautiful May, are seduced but the opulent luxury that surrounds them and lovelingly envision the trip as a second honeymoon. We’ve been fans of Collins work for many years and have always been impressed by his ability to bring his characters to life. Whereas he has never been more sensitive and astute than in his portrayal of these two people. Their love for each other is endearing.

When one of the blackmailers is found murdered, ship owner J.Bruce Ismay and Captain Smith ask Futrelle to investigate considering his background as a journalist and mystery writer. With each passing day of the voyage, he, with May’s assistance, begins to interview his list of elite suspects. Much like his fictional character, Futrelle collects the evidence and soon closes in on the killer by staging a phony séance. All in all, the mystery is expertly laid out and its solution satisfying. 

Yet it is not what elevates the story. Rather it is the somber reality of all those lost lives. By the finale, we found ourselves moved especially at the end of Collin’s epilogue wherein he chronicles the actual last minutes of each of the characters. He ends appropriately with May and Jack’s final farewell. Crying, we put down the book.