Today is the 106th anniversary of the day when the Titanic hit an iceberg. When I started researching S'more Murders, my Titanic-themed culinary mystery, I was surprised to find dozens of nonfiction titles about the disaster at my local library, a small subset of the books on the subject. A Google search of Titanic brings up 28 million hits. A rare copy of a menu from the first meal served aboard the Titanic is slated for auction later this month, expected to sell for 100,000 British pounds (140,000 U.S. dollars). What explains this fascination with a disaster that claimed 1500+ victims more than a century ago? Comment with your thoughts for a chance to win an Advanced Reader Edition of S'more Murders. Note: The contest ended May 1, and the winner is K.G. from Arkansas. To comment, click on the word "Comments" in the column to the left of this post. In S'more Murders, my 5th Five-Ingredient Mystery, the victim and suspects include Titanic collectors, dealers, and thieves, as well as a descendant of a Titanic survivor.
As warm April weather brings boaters to the Chesapeake Bay, Val agrees to cater a dinner party aboard a yacht. Its owner, a collector of Titanic memorabilia, asks her to re-create the final meal served on that doomed ship. On the anniversary of the Titanic disaster, the yachtsman welcomes his guests aboard and assigns them roles in a murder mystery game called Death on the Titanic. Val soon reaches the chilling conclusion that the host is fishing for the culprit in a real crime. When someone disappears from the yacht, Val and her grandfather have to reel in a killer before s’more murders go down. Available now for preorder, S'more Murders comes out on July 31, 2017. To enter a contest for an advanced edition, leave a comment about Titanic fascination in response to this post. The contest ends on May 1st and is open only to U.S. residents.
47 Comments
Kim Hansen
4/15/2018 05:50:26 pm
I think we a re so interested is that it was suppose to be unsinkable and for me also so few life boats.
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DAWN SNOW
4/15/2018 05:59:41 pm
I love reading about the Titanic. It's such a sad story. I've watched the movie and would love to go to the museum.
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Candy Kennedy
4/15/2018 06:01:15 pm
I love reading about the Titanic and the food is so special.
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Sandy Berg
4/15/2018 06:26:47 pm
I believe there is so much interest because of all the publicity about the Titanic being "unsinkable". I went to the Titanic exhibit and it was fasinating and surprising to see all the things that survived the sinking.
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Gayle Shanahan
4/15/2018 06:39:59 pm
I believe people are still so interested in the Titantic because of the opulence inside the ship and nobody ever imagined it would sink, especially on it maiden voyage.
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Amanda B.
4/15/2018 07:43:57 pm
I think a few things make this tragedy so memorable. One is the sheer number of people whose lives were lost. Another is that it affected the "upper-crust" of society. Combine that with the fact that it was the newest, biggest, and fanciest ship at the time and was on its maiden voyage and it seems almost too fantastic to be true. The story of the Titanic is a cautionary tale, a reminder that nothing is infallible and no one is safe from disaster.
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Robert Smurf
4/15/2018 07:44:10 pm
Unsinkable, large and quite extravagant, less stringent safety measures, ...and to strike an iceberg ? Highly unexpected and a very frightening experience.
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Cyara
4/15/2018 07:56:48 pm
I think about the news coverage at that time and how long it took for people to find out details of the incident. I wonder how fast that info would circle the world in this day & age
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4/15/2018 07:59:09 pm
I'm obsessed with the Titanic. I've read a ton of books on it. Jer and I recently watched a doc that claimed a cool fire started deep in the coal bins before the ship even set sail and that's what doomed it. They made a compelling case. Can't wait to read this book!
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dbibb
4/15/2018 08:20:42 pm
My Mother could remember people in the 1920s still talking about the Titanic. Maybe I caught the interest from her, but my Wife never understood until the movie Titanic. She went with me to suffer through the film, but loved the movie and, finally, understood why it fascinated me.
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Beverly Laude
4/15/2018 08:42:08 pm
The wealth & elegance of the ship, then all are lost. Shows that money can't save you.
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Diane Carter
4/15/2018 08:46:53 pm
As others have said, I think a lot of it was because it was supposed to be unsinkable but I also think it was because it was such an huge project, took so long to build, was a massive size and then sank because of an iceberg which i think the majority would have believed was impossible for it to be caused by such a thing
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Lorraine St.Onge
4/15/2018 08:53:04 pm
I have been a Titanic enthusiast for more years than I care to admit. I think the fascination comes from the glamorous people on board as well as the third class passengers that never had a chance. As well as how individuals deal with adversity and their fellow man in times of extreme danger to self. The sinking was a true disaster due to the arrogance of man. Unsinkable indeed. .
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Joye
4/15/2018 08:58:24 pm
It was an interesting movie about a tragic event.
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Kathleen Kendler
4/15/2018 09:11:01 pm
ten courses- a lot of food. Don't think I would make it through the meal.
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Maya Corrigan
4/26/2018 04:03:09 pm
Hi Kathleen, The passengers on the yacht in S'MORE MURDERS don't make it through the meal either! I've posted the Titanic dinner dishes on this site. Select Books on my site's main menu and then S'more Murders to see what the passengers ate.
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Celia Fowler
4/15/2018 09:31:10 pm
Every time I read about the Titanic or see a movie or documentary on it, I keep hoping it will turn out differently. I know that's silly, but it deserved a triumphant sailing, and held so many hopes for the future on it and seems such a waste of lives, expectations and beauty ~
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4/16/2018 03:17:12 am
I believe it was doomed from the beginning. To say, anything is unsinkable, or to brag that nothing could possibly happen to it. It cost a pretty penny to build, it was constantly in the news, as the Unsinkable Titantic! It flies in the face of any humility. I feel extremely sorry for people who put their faith in a machine, rather than put their faith in GOD! They did not even use all of the lifeboats! All lives matter. They should have gotten the women and children from the steerage class out also. It was the age of chilvary, before feminist took a huge hold on Society. Men would have given up their places to all women and children, if they had prepared for a sinking. No one even attented the drills. As far as the Movie, I have never seen anything so idiotic, than the man trying to kill Jack, and Kate Winslet! I do believe, there was enough true desperation in real life, than to intoduce a gangster script into such devastating sorrow.
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Shannon Molloy
4/15/2018 11:04:56 pm
The Titanic has always fascinated me and it seems like that fascination has passed down to my nephew (who is only 3) albeit a little differently, He talks about the Carpathia. Every pond, lake or body of water he sees, he always says he wants to have a ship like that. LOL! He's my little love.
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Janice Santillo
4/16/2018 01:04:24 am
The Titanic is an interesting story. Hard to imagine how they could make it so fancy and appealing to the upper class. Who could have imagined it would sink on its' maiden voyage. Yet there were a few survivors.
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Paula Staton
4/16/2018 01:12:30 am
Always interested in Titanic history.
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Kai Wong
4/16/2018 01:30:33 am
I have always fascinated by the Titanic. First it was the first safety law/rule that all ships are required to have enough life boats for all the ship passengers. First novel I read was Rising the Titanic by Clive Cussler and than Titanic the movie.
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Julia David
4/16/2018 11:47:44 am
It is a fascinating story. I am reading a story right now that talks about the Titanic. It isn't so much that they talk about the sinking, but the aftermath of the sinking and how everyone reacted to it. How sad everyone was because of the loss of so many lives.
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Fascination with the Titanic sinking is to be expected.. it's when mankind pronounced boldly that they'd finally made something that couldn't be destroyed. Only to have it sink in a matter of hours by something not man-made. Basically.. the Universe put us in our place. A major.. "Oh yeaaaaaaaa?? Watch THIS!"
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Lori B.
4/16/2018 02:11:10 pm
I have always been interested in the Titanic. Although the movie kind of ruined the story for me! I had someone come up to me in a book store and ask about the story and how they believed everything the movie showed. I had to let her know it was a made up story about people on the boat!
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Cheri Riddell
4/17/2018 03:56:56 am
It was fascinating I went to the museum in Halifax.We have had a Titanic dinner party.I am anxious to read your book too !
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Maya Corrigan
4/26/2018 05:19:13 pm
Happy to hear you also had a Titanic dinner party. I had to twist some arms among family members to get them to attend mine, but they all had a great time!
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K’TeeBee
4/19/2018 07:12:03 pm
I’ve always been fascinated by how much space was utilized for elegance vs how little for safety. The fact that there’ve been so many theories about the cause of the sinking provides ongoing fascination with the unsinkable Titanic sinking.
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KarenM
4/20/2018 08:25:36 pm
I would be fascinated to see the menu. 10 courses is unheard of today. They would have to be small courses for me to get through it.
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Maya Corrigan
4/26/2018 04:01:17 pm
Hi Karen, I've posted the Titanic dinner dishes on this site. Select Books on my site's main menu and then S'more Murders to see what the passengers ate.
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Nessa Reads
4/26/2018 07:01:53 pm
I went to the Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge a few years ago...the movie was interesting too when it came out...I guess it's just hard to imagine a ship so big and formidable could succumb to the North Atlantic waters. You always replay what happened and what could have happened and what you would do if you were in a situation like that. It's difficult to wrap your mind around a tragedy of that magnitude.
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Kay Bennett
4/26/2018 11:22:19 pm
I think maybe it is because the Titanic was supposed to be such a big deal, so opulent and then it was brought down by a piece of ice (ok iceberg). I think that makes people think of how anything can happen to anyone at any time. Or maybe not, lol
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Candy Kennedy
4/26/2018 11:43:39 pm
I think because it was "unsinkable" and it was so hyped and watched.
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Amanda Wilcox
4/27/2018 01:42:41 pm
I think we are drawn to our history, to learn from it and hope that things like this don't happen again. I've always been interested in the story of the Titanic. I was in high school when the movie came out and I think I went to see it at least a half dozen times. I love reading about it, fiction and non. Building it was such a feat for it's time, learning how they did things before the technology is amazing. We've learned to work smarter, not harder, but as people we can do pretty amazing things.
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Robin Whitaker
4/27/2018 02:37:21 pm
I think the fascination for me is that it may have been a preventable disaster. That so many people were killed, especially those in the lower classes. That there would not be enough life boats for everyone on the ship to escape. I collect Titanic items and have been to a Titanic dinner at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island where Parks Stevenson spoke. It was such a tragedy.
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LuAnn Summers
4/27/2018 03:19:26 pm
This sounds absolutely great. I had a distant relative who was on the Titanic's crew and survived so it is a fascination to me. Fingers crossed.
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Dianne B
4/27/2018 03:56:17 pm
The Titanic story has always fascinated me and I found the pictures of it, taken by Bob Ballard to be fascinating and intriguing.
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Renee
4/27/2018 05:49:18 pm
The history surrounding the Titantic is always heartbreaking...but interesting. No one realised how experiencing this type of trauma could profoundly effect a person’s life forever. With that said, I enjoy reading books that have a bit of history added in such as researching and finding what was served at the last meal.
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Dianne Casey
4/27/2018 07:34:21 pm
I've always been fascinated by the Titanic. I can't imagine what those people endured.
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Linda Herold
4/27/2018 08:55:36 pm
It was an unsinkable ship and then tragedy struck. It is fascinating to read about!
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Faith Creech
4/27/2018 11:15:50 pm
The titanic has a.ways fascinated me because of the history behind it.
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Karen Surprenant
4/28/2018 09:50:34 am
I was just listening to the radio a few days ago. The person was telling a story about how the Titanic was switched with another boat for the insurance money.
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Kay Garrett
4/28/2018 10:48:18 am
I think the fascination is from the era that it occurred. It was back before there was instant communication and the ability for help to come with just the flip of a switch. It was a time of vulnerability. It's inconceivable in today's technology to think of losses in just great numbers. It's almost acceptable to romanticize about disasters of the past like the Titanic.
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Donamae
4/28/2018 07:34:34 pm
It’s fascinating that such a huge ship sunk. It was glamorous and not enough life boats. Hard to believe all the glitz and being short of lifeboats.
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5/1/2018 05:31:58 am
I really enjoy the original Titanic movie. Very different in tone from the later one.
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Suzi Olson
5/1/2018 09:12:49 am
For me, the Titanic represents everything that was supposed to go so right go the worst kind of wrong it could possibly have encountered--from ego-driven owners trying to 'show off' vs using ANY kind of common sense about how fast to take it out--never thinking about the engine needing to be broken in or listening to the Captain--the man who knew more than they did about commanding the vessel-----and the extreme amount of life lost because of it----it just seems IMPOSSIBLE to understand or ever truly grasp what these poor people WENT THROUGH second by second to their demise without a chance for rescue because no one would get anything right that night to save a life.
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5/8/2018 03:51:44 pm
I feel like I may have already commented, but in case I haven't, I'm doing it now so I can be entered in the contest! I'm fascinated by the Titanic. Can't wait to read this.
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Maya CorriganThis blog, like the books and stories I write, combines mysteries, food, trivia, and a bit of humor to leaven the grim subject of crime. Sometimes random subjects intrude here . Archives
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