Five Passengers from Lisbon — Mignon G. Eberhart

“The master touch for murders with superior entertainment value,” this classic locked room mystery takes place aboard a ship at sea (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Shipwrecked while bound for Buenos Aires, Marcia Colfax believes she and her beloved fiancé might not live to see their long-awaited wedding day. But a miracle occurs after being lowered down in a lifeboat into the dark, swirling sea with the captain, two seamen, and their fellow passengers from Lisbon. A rescue ship is spotted in the darkness.

When Marcia awakes next, she's in a bed aboard an American hospital ship, the SS Magnolia. Marcia comes to learn that everyone was rescued, except for the captain, who was found dead in the lifeboat with a knife plunged into his back. The revelation sends shockwaves through Marcia. Surely it must have been one of the seamen, bearing a grudge against their captain? Or could it have been one of the five passengers from Lisbon?

The only thing certain is that the murderer is on board the boat, a fact that becomes gruesomely apparent when another corpse is discovered.

Now Marcia's voyage to happiness becomes a race against death as a killer stalks the shadowy decks. . . .