It is 1921, and Alma Webster, a reader of romances, is passionately in love with her dentist, Walter Baranov. There is only one foreseeable outcome: the murder of his wife.

Inspired by the real-life Dr Crippen case, they plot a way to achieve it perfectly aboard the ocean liner, Mauretania. With a fine sense of irony, Baranov takes the identity of Inspector Dew, Crippen''s nemesis. But when a murder is reported aboard the ship and ''Inspector Dew'' is invited to investigate, the complications begin.

Listed in The Times'' 100 Best Crime Novels of the Twentieth Century.