1920 ~ Variations on a Theme of Masculinity

by Iain Landles

Overview

Captain Rider Garforth is traveling on the liner Imperator to New York in 1920, with the intention of visiting a renowned doctor in an attempt to be cured of his shell-shock. The first-class passenger list is sparse but inhabited by lords and ladies, the rich, a smattering of "bright young things," respected professionals, and ex-soldiers. However, the bonhomie of the journey is shattered when a series of murders strikes terror into the hearts of the assembled cast. Rider, a former police inspector, is reluctantly coerced into investigating the murders, against the wishes of his trusted servant, Martins, who fears that the strain will be too much for the shell-shocked captain. As the pair investigates the mystery, Rider becomes embroiled with a beautiful woman and soon comes to realize that, in order to solve the murders, he must pay a painful, personal price...

Product Details

BN ID:	2940161132623
Publisher:	Black Opal Books
Publication date:	08/31/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	292 KB

About the Author

Iain Landles was born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. He has been writing plays since 1988, and his first show, Urak-Hai, took place in 1992. Since then his work has appeared on the London Fringe, the Edinburgh and Brighton Festivals, and on numerous tours across Britain. Landles’s War Trilogy was performed between 2003 and 2005 at the White Bear Theatre, London. Time Out said of The Siege: “Landles’s fierce poetic style, together with his themes of political and sexual depravity, might make you think of Howard Barker, and you’d not be far wrong…Landles has served up an intriguingly nasty piece of work.”

Landles is a controversial playwright, experimenting with theatrical form (see Seventh Day Respite, 2007, and Accelerating Expansion, 2008), language, character, and narrative. His “in-yer-face” style of writing and his unique voice is known for its lack of compromise. Landles gained a doctorate from the University of Sussex and subsequently a professor, and has published extensively on the poet E .E. Cummings: The Case for Cummings and is also a contributing and consulting editor for SPRING, The Journal of the E. E. Cummings Society.

Editorial Reviews

The story is set in 1920, as the title implies, and reminded me a lot of Agatha Christie mysteries of the same time period, though Landles's voice has more of an edge to it, and the story has a much faster pace than hers did. With well-developed characters and an intriguing mystery, it's a very enjoyable read.

http://www.blackopalbooks.com - Taylor Jones

Landles's character development is superb and his voice is refreshing. The story caught my interest from the very beginning and I found it hard to put down.

http://www.blackopalbooks.com - Regan Murphy