The blurb on the back:

England, September 1939. Lily Shepherd boards a cruise liner for a new life in Australia and is plunged into a world of cocktails, jazz and glamorous friends. But as the sun beats down, poisonous secrets begin to surface. Suddenly Lily finds herself trapped with nowhere to go…

Australia, six weeks later. The world is at war, the cruise liner docks, and a beautiful young woman is escorted on to dry land in handcuffs.

What has she done?

Dangerous Crossings by Rachel Rhys is a thrilling read with engaging characters harbouring dark secrets and clashing with each other, as well as a plot full of sexual tension. It all takes place under the shadow of the breakout of World War II and in the claustrophobic confines of a cruise ship, where no-one can truly escape from who they really are.

This is a real page-turner which took me just a few days to finish. It is Agatha Christie-esque, in that our characters are trapped in a single location, albeit one that briefly docks into exotic locations, and we have to wait until the end to solve the mystery. It differs from a traditional murder-mystery, though, in that the actual murder takes place almost at the end of the story.

Thrillers aren’t usually my cup of tea, but this had me hooked with its cast of memorable characters. Highly recommended!