From the day that they buy their own boat, a coral diver and his son sense it is cursed by the devil.

"Compulsively readable."—New York Times Book Review From Stuart Turton, author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, comes an extraordinary new locked-room murder mystery. A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist. It's 1634, and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent. Among the other guests is Sara Wessel, a noblewoman with a secret. But no sooner is their ship out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol appears on the sail. A dead leper stalks the decks. Livestock dies in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice, whispering to them in the darkness, promising three unholy miracles, followed by a slaughter. First an impossible pursuit. Second an impossible theft. And third an impossible murder. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes? With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent and Sara can solve a mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board. Shirley Jackson meets Sherlock Holmes in this chilling thriller of supernatural horror, occult suspicion, and paranormal mystery on the high seas.

In this terrifically entertaining history, journalist Kristoffer A. Garin chronicles the cruise-ship industry, from its rise in the early sixties, to its explosion in the seventies with the hit show The Love Boat, to the current vicious consolidation wars and brazen tax dodges. Entrepreneurial genius and bare-knuckle capitalism mate with cultural kitsch as the cruise lines dodge U.S. tax, labor, and environmental laws to make unimaginable profits while bringing the world a new form of leisure. A colorful and compelling behind-the-scenes narrative, Devils on the Deep Blue Sea is a definitive look at the industry and its robber barons who created floating empires.

Medici in Florence, after the restoration of 1512. Carafulla, historical Jester, leading the (Venetian) Ship of Fools in the pageant through the streets of Florence in the Midsummer festival of St John the Baptist,1514. The antics of the jesters have meaning. This is gradually unfolded during the journey of the ship in the book. It is done by focusing on the visual and narrative riddles of the jesters and other characters analysed with the help of a background on the festive tradition (Carnival) in Europe, and of published and unpublished (personal letters of the Medici) material. Gradually the pranks and jests reveal earnest and controversial contents which reflect on political relationships between Rome (the Medici pope, Leo X), Florence (the member of the Medici family ruling there) and the Republic of Venice (provider of fleets and reformist thought). Rumours, humours and emulations between Florence Rome and Venice.