A true-crime novel, Murder Aboard takes us to July of 1896 when 11 people board the Herbert Fuller from Boston and end in Halifax, Nova Scotia with only eight passengers. The three remaining have been hacked to death and lay in the jolly-boat attached to the ship.

Murdered were the captain, his wife and a second mate. It then takes us to one of the most sensational high-profile trials of the century when first mate Thomas Bram is accused of the murders.

Riveting and engrossing this is a must read!

A very strange, morbid and intriguing hard-to-put-down re-telling of a true story of bygone age of maritime. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

The title of the book was very catching and so was the brief description of it, but the book did drag a little and left many questions. It is understandable that there are missing and few records of crimes that happened in the 1800"s and this one did well with what it had, but you were still left with a feeling that it wasn't complete. The story it's self is very interesting that makes you truly wonder what happened on that ship. After reading the story I don't think they actual got it right. There had to be more to the murder than what is known. The book did drag in a couple of places and then the end felt like it was rushed. Over all it was a interesting read an maybe will start some readers to research this on their own.

I really enjoyed this book. True crime is a guilty pleasure of mine and I have read quite a few duds. This , however, is not one of them. It grabs your attention from the beginning and keeps it until the end. Fans of mystery/true crime/courtroom dramas will enjoy this title.

I tried reading this book. I got about a third of the way in and stopped reading. The mystery surrounding the murder of the crew was intriguing. However, reading the various accounts of the crew and passengers recount the murder grew old fast. Yes, I got that everyone was telling their story of the events which differed slightly but it seemed to go on and on for way to long. Nothing else was moving the story along at a faster pace.

Murder Aboard is author Michael Hiam's well-researched account of the "unsolved" Herbert Fuller triple murder at sea and the subsequent trial of the main suspect, Thomas Bram. This was an occurrence that I had never personally heard of, so I was interested to read about this seemingly lost part of history. (It doesn't even appear to have a wikipedia entry.)

The book starts out well enough, insofar as Hiam details the main players and time period well enough and then sets about detailing the first few days at sea leading up to the crime. The crime itself is told from the eyes of a young passenger on board, and you immediately begin questioning the veracity of his account, as well as the subsequent accounts given by some of the other crew members. It felt to me almost like a macabre version of Clue at sea.

While the beginning 30% of the book drew me in, the remaining 70% of the narrative consists almost entirely of court transcripts of Thomas Bram's trial. Here it gets a bit repetitive, with the main players brought in for repeated testimony that varies only slightly. While Hiam's inferences about the racial aspects of the trial and time period are admirable, I found myself tempted to skim through some of the sections here as I lost some of my prior investment. I never stopped wanting to find out the guilty party however, so I saw it through.

I will say that, while I respect Hiam's obvious research into this subject, I wasn't entirely convinced at his conclusion to the real killer. It seemed to me that it could have still logically been any one of a few people, and I didn't see enough evidence to convince me it was any one person 100%.

This is a worthy book for anyone interested in obscure seafaring history and true crime.

***I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Rowman & Littlefield.***

A true crime that happened in 1896. Murder at sea with only one questionable witness and horrific details is brought to life through the author's extensive research and capable writing. As he takes us through the days before and after the crime, it's easy for the reader to "see" the story unfold. A great book for both true crime and maritime law readers.

An interesting dive (haha) into a story about mutiny on the seas. It was well researched, definitely, but a bit repetitive at times. Makes you wonder how many other stories are like this that haven't been brought to the forefront.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my review, but all opinions are my own.

A bit repetitive at times but i suppose necessarily so, overall a good book and will look forward to finding more out about this trial etc.

I'm not quite finished, but this book should be a lot more interesting and dramatic to read than it is. Aside from writing style, that is because it is bogged down in repetitions. This lack of editing is a primary reason nowadays why there are so few good books. There is no one to help a promising author make an ok book into a wonderful read.

Murder Aboard: The Herbert Fuller Tragedy and the Ordeal of Thomas Bram

This book is a true murder tale that happened aboard a ship traveling across the high seas one dark night. The ship was named the Herbert Fuller, and it was hauling lumber out of Boston headed for Argentina. It was July 1896 and they’d been sailing nine nights when the murder happened. Three people were horribly butchered late one night, the captain Charles Nash, his wife Laura, and the second mate, August Blomberg. Thomas Bram, the first mate was blamed for the murders by Charlie Brown, the man who’d been on the wheel steering the ship and claimed to have seen Bram striking the captain with an ax through a small window. They headed for the nearest major port to report the situation. The bodies were deteriorating quickly but were kept for evidence by placing them together in a small jolly boat which was then sealed with material and tar then towed at a distance behind the Herbert Fuller on a rope to try to avoid the worst of the smell. I found it very informative to read about how they handled such things back in those days.

They sailed quite a long ways to the port in Halifax, Nova Scotia to report the matter and that is where the inquest was held. I think this book would interest people who like true crime and history of this period, along with those who are into sailing ship stories. My thanks for the advance electronic copy that was provided by NetGalley, author C. Michael Hiam, and the publisher for my fair review.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a mystery/action/court room procedural that thoroughly drew me in. The attention to detail was much appreciated and I was thrilled from beginning to end. I did feel that the authors language at times was a bit flowery but that overall telling of the story and the provided pictures were very enjoyable.

I’ve had my nose buried in two somewhat gruesome books recently. The first, Murder Aboard: the Herbert Fuller Tragedy and the Ordeal of Thomas Bram by C. Michael Hiam, tells the story of a lumber ship due to sail from Boston to Argentina that ends up in Nova Scotia after multiple passengers are murdered, including its captain. It takes the reader through the subsequent trial of first mate Thomas Bram, a high-profile murder case at the time, but little-known now.

It sounded like a great yarn and I was hoping for a gripping, meaty tale full of characters in the vein of something Erik Larson would write. In the end, it felt like a story Larson would have considered and then abandoned for lack of material. Hiam gets the majority of his details from the dry court testimony, which he admits fairly far into the book, is incomplete. As a result, the people involved aren’t fully fleshed-out human beings that the reader feels they know, never mind empathize with. I never got enough of a feel for any of the ship’s crew to care about who did it or who may have been falsely accused. In a much shorter version, it might have been an interesting addition to some sort of murder-at-sea anthology. But at 240 pages it wasn’t much more enlightening than flipping through the court testimony yourself.

The other book, however, The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth by Thomas Morris, is an absolute hoot. Morris has combed through old medical journals from around the world and highlighted the most amusingly horrifying medical conditions imaginable (or unimaginable, more accurately). The exploding teeth are the least remarkable of the stories and if you have a fascinated delight for learning about the weird shit that people will put in their bodies, this will become your personal bible. I’m still only halfway through, but have already spent most of my time reading it laughing, while also groaning in disgust.

A strange tale of mutiny on the high seas, late 19th century. Well written, you won't learn who actually did the various killings until the end. A captain, his seafaring wife and a couple deck hands are mysteriously axed to death during the night and none of the survivors (except the killer) know who did it. Accounts for what the survivors did with the bodies at sea, and what they did to stay protected until they could reach shore. Worth the read, just as gripping as Hitchcock but this one really happened.

Was a great book, I am only a High School librarian so I would not be ordering for my library but will be recommending.

While this book started out great it became repetitive when describing the crime. The majority of the book read like a deposition and the author did not add anything to the personalities of the characters. These were real men but the writing made me feel like they were just words on paper. I finished the book because I truly wanted to find out what happened on the ship. The true crime was interesting but the author made the characters come out flat. I wanted to read this book because it was compared to Eric Larson, who's books are wonderful. Larson has a way of making history come alive and sadly Hiam was not able to do this.