A Yacht Sets Sail (1947) by Deck Dorval

"Deck Dorval" is the joined pseudonym of three Belgian authors, Frans van Dooren, Jef Beeckmans and Jos Deckkers, who had a forty-year friendship "based on their mutual interest in Esperanto, philosophy and literature" – evidently they loved detective stories. Together, they collaborated on two detective novels, Zwarte kunst (Black Arts, 1947) and Een jacht vaart uit (A Yacht Sets Sail, 1947). Van Dooren took on the bulk of the plotting and writing, Deckkers edited and Beeckmans gave it his critical eye.

That's the shortened, simplified history of the short-lived "Deck Dorval" series of detective novels, but putting its backstory together was a mini-puzzle.

Not every source mentions/recognizes Van Dooren's co-authors and some confusion exists over the original publication year of Black Arts and A Yacht Sets Sail, which is either 1945 or 1947. I believe the latter is the correct year as the 1945 date comes from a single source and it probably wasn't best year to launch a book with the whole World War II kerfuffle coming to an end. Curiously, the same source also mentions Van Dooren was known for a popular radio-series, Inspecteur Kant knapt het op (Inspector Kant Fixes It), that aired for 104 episodes on Radio-Antwerpen, but nothing can be found online – no air dates, episode descriptions or cast listings. So don't know if there's any relation between the Inspector Kant from the radio-series and Inspector Xaverius Kant from A Yacht Sets Sail. Nor am I sure if their books were originally written in Esperanto and then translated into Dutch/Flemish or the other way round. If they were written in Esperanto first, the translator, Christian Declerk, can probably be counted as the fourth collaborator to complete this "Quentin Quartet." Finally, the "Deck Dorval" name resurfaced after a forty year hiatus when Black Arts and A Yacht Sets Sail were reissued in the 1983 and 1990 as Boze geesten (Angry Spirits) and De dood aan boord (Death on Board). A few years later, Van Doorner, now in his late eighties, unsuccessfully tried to revive the series with two new novels, Kazinski komt te laat (Kazinski Arrives Too Late, 1992) and Urd Hadda werd vermoord (Urd Hadda was Murdered, 1993). Deckkers and Beeckmans had both died by then and Van Dooren followed his friends in 1996. So a bit of a scattered history, but now you're all caught up.

Some of you know I like to poke around the desolate ruins of the Dutch-language detective story from time to time. You can find a short overview of my findings in the review of Ine van Etten's De moord in het openluchtmuseum (Murder at the Open Air Museum, 1954). While poking around, I came across a few references to Deck Dorval with A Yacht Sets Sail appearing to be the best of their efforts. So jotted it down for future reference, but copies of both the original editions and reprints aren't available in abundance. I kind of forgot about it until someone got me a copy! Let's see how well it stands up as a detective story.

As you probably guessed from the title, A Yacht Sets Sail takes place aboard a large, luxurious private yacht, Zeevalk, property of an American industrialist and millionaire, Otto S. Maxton – who invited a dozen notables along on this leisurely voyage. There's his fellow industrialist, Herman Steinmann, who's accompanied by his wife, Maria, and their son, Alex. Count and Countess de la Fosse. Jean Baptiste de Groot, doctor of medicine, who brought along his wife, Sophie. Jean Dubois, a poet, Juan Gulopez, a Spanish philosopher and European chess champion, and a Miss Stella Sterlen. Additionally, Maxton brought along his private secretary, Miss Yvonne Durlet, manservant/butler, Henry Higgs, and notary/lawyer, Theodore van der Meersch. Last, but not least, the Flemish policeman Inspector Xaverius Kant.

Inspector Kant is both a little baffled Maxton invited a simple policeman along on a pleasure cruise aboard a private yacht in the company of high society, but also scolds himself ("...old fool") for having falling for the charms of Miss Durlet. Other than that, the voyage is calm and peaceful, until an incident with a drunken sailor bothering Countess de la Fosse. A normally minor, forgettable incident that ends up giving the entire crew an alibi when a shot rings out from Maxton's cabin. Someone shot the millionaire through the back of his head with a heavy caliber weapon, which left a terrible mess on the cabin floor. A bloodied button in Maxton's hand appears to give an early solution to the case, but Kant exposes the tell-tale clue for the red herring it really is and a second death deepens the mystery even further. A murder presented as a suicide, but, once again, Kant spots the camouflage and cuts right through it.

This is the point where the plot becomes tricky to discuss in detail as A Yacht Sets Sail is a as-describe-on-tin detective novel, which is both its primary strength and biggest weakness.

Firstly, the plot holds together, technically speaking, which makes for a genuine, if somewhat bland, Golden Age shipboard mystery. However, the two central plot-pieces, first and second murder, retread old ground. So you can easily see in which direction the ending is heading, despite the sincere attempts to fairly hide it. It betrays the authors were amateurs, well-intended amateurs, but amateurs who simply lacked the experience, polish and confidence to carry this piece of fan fiction to the status of a respectable second-stringer – because they showed less confidence in their own (hidden) ideas. The ending reveals the (SPOILER/ROT13) pnova jurer Znkgba pbhyq unir orra n irel hahfhny naq bevtvany ybpxrq ebbz zlfgrel, juvpu jnf “ybpxrq” ol gur furyy pnfvat. Jura gurl bcrarq gur qbbe, nsgre urnevat gur fubg, gur qbbe fjrcg nfvqr gur furyy pnfvat naq cebirf abobql pbhyq unir yrsg gur ebbz nsgre gur fubg jnf sverq. I suppose they feared developing this “missed clue” into a full-fledged plot-thread would have given away too much, but would also have given Kant a break from interviewing everyone to chew on that puzzling aspect of the case. It certainly would have put a stamp of their own on the plot.

So the only surprising bit about the ending is how Kant's solution is revealed to be a false-solution by another character, a rival detective is always fun, but here it really came at the expense of Kant's character. Why not make both their solutions kind of correct? It can be done without altering a single letter, or comma, to the story. Simply have the culprit from the false-solution intervene with the plans from the correct solution and the result would be exactly the same, but with a pleasing bit of complexity and some depth added to it. Yes, having multiple culprits can be hackwork, but it can work with the right story. A Yacht Sets Sail is one of those stories in which multiple culprits would not have only worked, but improved the plot with the professional's practical solution paired with the armchair musings of the amateur. So there's definitely more here than the three authors got out of it and had they shown a bit more confidence and daring, A Yacht Sets Sail could have been more than merely an average, inoffensive and lightweight shipboard mystery.

Well, I guess the search for good, classic, or classically-styled, Dutch detective fiction continues. Surely, there has to be another locked room gem like Cor Docter's Koude vrouw in Kralingen (Cold Woman in Kralingen, 1970) or a treat like Ton Vervoort hidden somewhere?