Eberhart, Mignon Good Five Passengers from Lisbon

This romance novel / murder mystery, evidently aimed at the women's market, is an interesting period piece. Set just after the conclusion of World War 2, the novel features a cast of Americans who had been trapped in Europe during the War and are attempting in late 1945 to get back home by taking the LERIDA, a Portuguese steamer, from Lisbon to South America. West of the Azores the ship sinks in a ferocious storm, with a small group of survivors taking to a lifeboat. They are rescued by the U.S. Army hospital ship MAGNOLIA, en route home with a ship load of wounded troops. One of the LERIDA's survivors has been murdered while still in the ship's lifeboat, and several other survivors meet a violent end once aboard the hospital ship. This mayhem is at odds with the orderly world depicted aboard the hospital ship. Before the novel's denouement Nazi sympathizers and Gestapo stooges are revealed, and all are meted out just punishments for their various crimes. The novel was originally published in Jan. 1946 as the serial “Murder Haunts the Ship” in Collier’s Magazine (see following entry):

"Murder Haunts the Ship." In: Collier’s Magazine, vol. 117, nos. 1-4, Jan. 5 - Jan 26, 1946. Illustrations by Elmore Brown.