THE PRINCE AND THE PROSECUTOR

Third in this Kirkus reviewer's series (Death on the Mississippi, 1995, etc.) featuring Samuel Clemens at the height of his fame as Mark Twain, his young Yale grad secretary, Wentworth Cabot (who narrates), and a voyage by ship. This time, it's the transatlantic City of Baltimore from New York to England. Among fellow passengers are Rudyard and Carrie Kipling and a group from Philadelphia on an art tour, shepherded by voluble Italian artist/guide Georgio Rubbia. Rubbia's group includes attorney Julius Babson, his wife, his daughter Rebecca, and his son Robert, a hard-drinking, arrogant bully. Robert is engaged to Theresa Mercer, daughter of the powerful banker Vincent Mercer, whose family is also part of the Philadelphia contingent. Aboard ship too is Prince Heinrich Karl von Buckgarten, of whose credentials Clemens is immediately suspicious—with good reason, as it turns out. The days at sea pass in the usual leisurely style—dining, drinking, cardplaying—marred only by some jarring incidents involving the boorish Robert, until a storm hits one night and it appears that he's been washed overboard. His father is sure it's murder, not accident. Clemens and others agree, and so Wentworth is assigned to question guests and crew. Prince Karl, meanwhile, is confined to his cabin, on the word of a possible eyewitness. Every facet of Robert's demise is explored, until the surprising truth emerges. Meaty fare for fans of the quasi-historical, with nicely done period detail and atmosphere.