A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

Hardback: 366 pages                                                                                                  
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Publisher: Doubleday March 2017
Source: Lovereading Reader Review Panel Member
First Sentence: Sandwiched between two policeman, the woman descends the gangplank of the ship.
Review Quote: "A sumptuous and thrilling read which reminded me of Daphne du Maurier. It captivates you in its spell right until the end. I loved it." (KATE HAMER, author of THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT)
My Opinion: Rachel Rhys is the pen name of the already successful Tammy Cohen, author of psychological suspense novels.  There is no doubt in my mind that her debut novel as a mystery writer will also be successful. The idea for the story comes from a memoir that she found whilst browsing her mother's bookcases, written by a late friend during a voyage from Tilbury to Sydney. The memoir chronicles in meticulous detail everything about this voyage, so all the ingredients that make a novel a pleasure to read are present, including a different from the norm location as most of the story is set onboard an ocean liner, just prior to the start of WWII. The reader gets to emerge themselves in ship board life, along  with protagonists, Lily Shepherd and the other passengers leaving the UK in hope of  a better life in Australia. Life aboard ship turns out to be an eye opener as Lily and the other steerage passengers get to socialise with first class passengers, that in real life they would probably have worked for! The unworldly atmosphere and somewhat claustrophobic life on the long journey is a perfect setting for this murder mystery though personally that was almost less important than the wonderful journey travelled in this engaging read.  

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

1939, Europe on the brink of war. Lily Shepherd leaves England on an ocean liner for Australia, escaping her life of drudgery for new horizons. She is instantly seduced by the world onboard: cocktails, black-tie balls and beautiful sunsets. Suddenly, Lily finds herself mingling with people who would otherwise never give her the time of day.

But soon she realizes her glamorous new friends are not what they seem. The rich and hedonistic Max and Eliza Campbell, mysterious and flirtatious Edward, and fascist George are all running away from tragedy and scandal even greater than her own.


By the time the ship docks, two passengers are dead, war has been declared, and life will never be the same again.


Author Profile

RACHEL RHYS is the pen-name Tammy Cohen a successful psychological suspense author. A Dangerous Crossing is her debut under this name and is inspired by a real life account of a 1930s ocean voyage. A Dangerous Crossing is due to be published around the world. Rachel Rhys lives in North London with her family.

Autobiographical paragraphs below in the author's own words are courtesy of  the  Official Author Website.

I was born in Ibadan, Nigeria where my anthropologist father happened to be doing fieldwork at the time. Sabbatical years in far-flung places were a feature of my childhood and I attended school in both Sierra Leone and California. Otherwise, I mostly grew up in the suburbs of London where my adolescence was spent either in the local library or waiting for the last tube home.
After taking an American Studies degree at Manchester University I taught English in Madrid. While working as a secretary back in London, I started writing features and hand-delivering them to the magazine publishing house around the corner. The day the first one got accepted, I packed in my job and declared myself a freelance journalist, which is basically what I remained for the next twenty years, writing features for national magazines and newspapers, such as Marie Claire, The Times and The Telegraph, and then moving on to non fiction books. My dream was always to write fiction but it wasn’t until I was forty-seven that I finally conquered the self doubt and my first novel, The Mistress’s Revenge was published.
These days I live in North London with my partner and three (nearly) grown children and one very badly behaved dog. Together with my family I spent four happy years living in Spain from 2004 to 2008 and I live in fear of people finding this out and asking me something in Spanish at which I remain shamefully inept.
My first novel, The Mistress’s Revenge, was followed by three more contemporary fiction titles under the name Tamar Cohen – The War of the Wives, Someone Else’s Wedding and The Broken. In November 2014, my first crime novel, Dying For Christmas was published under the name Tammy Cohen, followed by First One Missing a year later. My third crime novel, When She Was Bad, is due for publication in April 2016. I am a member of the Killer Women collective of London-based female UK crime writers.


 Information courtesy of the following sites.

Rachel Rhys - Amazon Author Page   Tammy Cohen - Amazon Author Page  

Facebook Profile    Twitter - Tammy Cohen    Tammy Cohen - Official Website