The Mr. and Mrs. North mysteries were written by a husband and wife team, Frances and Richard Lockridge, and feature an upscale couple who frequently travel and always get into the middle of a murder. They made their first appearance in the New Yorker in the 1930s. The twenty-six Mr. and Mrs. North titles written between 1936 and 1963, are one of the most famous American mystery series and were adapted for a Broadway play, a long-running radio program, a movie, and a popular television series. Frances came up with the plot and Richard fleshed out the novel. They were co-presidents of the Mystery Writers of America and received a special Edgar Award in 1962.
In Voyage Into Violence, Pam North and her husband Jerry take a pleasure cruise on the SS Carib Queen from New York to Havana. The year is 1956. They are travelling with their usual companions, good friends Dorian and Bill Weigand - Bill is a policeman. Among the assorted guests are the "Old Respectables" (a group of middle aged men playing at cadets who enjoy taking patrols in full military uniform), alcoholic Hilda Macklin and her mousey daughter, and of course, a shipboard gigolo with an eye for bored housewives. They are all introduced at the Captain's cocktail party before the second sitting. The North's are second sitting people.
Before the first day out, a Respectable's ceremonial sword goes missing and turns up in the chest of a Mr. J. Orville Marsh, retired private eye.
'Pam was a little disappointed...bad luck to catch her first private eye just when it had closed.'
With the Captain's permission, Bill steps in to work with the police on shore until they reach Havana. Between cocktail hours and sunning on deck chairs, there are side mysteries about a missing woman, stolen or inherited jewels for sale on the sly, someone pushed over the back deck railing, and an American Express tour around Old Havana. It's all very leisurely until the wrap up in the last few pages.
The Norths are an observant and curious couple who can finish each other's sentences and, though veering wildly off topic, can keep the train of thought on the tracks. Pam is always wandering into the investigation, sometimes mistakenly, and helping Bill put two and two together. Her witty comments are really dry and funny, the kind which could be catty if you didn't know her so well. When Mrs. Macklin, who has had a few and looking for a few more states "There could," she said, in a high voice with a crack in it, "be more drink." Pam agrees.
She had something there, Pam thought - not tact, certainly, but something.
There isn't much action - it's a slow voyage to Havana, but entertaining if you like to discuss personalities and motives over drinks for a few days.
This series is usually compared to the Thin Man series, and rightly so. Entertaining, witty, a little murder, a few cocktails. Voyage Into Violence isn't the best mystery, so don't spend too much time seeking out a copy, but if it's there, it's certainly amusing.
1956 / Paperback / 223 pages
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