Charter-boat captain Stuart Rogers, owner of the 40-foot ketch Topaz, had hired two men to help him sail it from the Panama Zone to North Carolina. An able sailor named Keefer, and an American accountant in tweeds named Baxter, who offered his services in exchange for a cheap ride home. Baxter seems fit around the boat, and is a surprisingly good helmsman, almost a professional sailor.
Four days out of Christobel, a squall comes up and the mainsail is torn in two. When Baxter collapses on deck from a heart attack, they wrap him in the torn sailcloth and bury him at sea. Nothing left behind - no luggage, photographs, or fingerprints. There is an inquest and Rogers is cleared.
Days later, police question Rogers aboard the Topaz about the other man, Keefer. For a man with only the clothes on his back, he was seen flashing four thousand dollars around local bars, and his body was just pulled from under the pier, beaten to death. A merchant seaman, he was often drunk and could have been rolled. The police ask Rogers to identify him. Rogers carried no cash onboard, and Baxter couldn't afford a plane ticket Stateside - so how did Keefer come across such money? The FBI now scrutinize Rogers, igniting new interest in Baxter.
Paula Stafford is waiting for Baxter, and he hasn't arrived. Her letter from Baxter says he planned pay Rogers $10,000 to be put ashore, somewhere in Central America "with the rest of the money", and fake his death. Of course, she does not believe Rogers was not in on Baxter's plan from the start. She believes Rogers kept the remaining $19,000 and killed Baxter.
She isn't the only one! Two underworld thugs ransack the Topaz in dock and kidnap Rogers for an 'interview', demanding the full $23,000.
Rogers works with the FBI to decipher what actually happened, and his friend Bill (Miami reporter) discovers several other wealthy men who disappeared in accidents at sea. Men who looked very much like Baxter, whoever the hell he was.
The Sailcloth Shroud has a tight plot, with that blend of mystery and tension you are looking for. Rogers doesn't know what's going on, and soon he is on the run in a race against time, trying to find out - Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler style. Charles Williams is the author of another excellent sea thriller Dead Calm, the basis for a 1989 film starring a young Nicole Kidman. He knows and loves the sea, having been a radio operator for ten years on US Merchant Marine vessels. If you are looking for an unusual mystery at sea, this is recommended.
1959 / Hardcover / 193 pages
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