Murder in Absence

FIRST, there is a murder in Hembury in the Home Counties, then Desmond and Mavis Merrion go on a cruise—two events with no apparent connection between them. But as the freighter Ballerina, with her small complement of passengers, steams between the ports of the Eastern Mediterranean, Beirut, Famagusta, Istanbul, and then remote Fetiyeh, it becomes clear that Merrion is once more faced with a mystery.