The Pitards - Georges Simenon

'Read him at your peril, avoid him at your loss' Sunday Times

Captain
Lannec has finally managed to buy his own ship with the
financial help
of his in-laws, the Pitards - and they've never let him
forget it.
When his temperamental wife Mathilde insists on coming along
on the
ship's first voyage, Lannec becomes increasingly unnerved by her
presence, especially when he receives an anonymous note saying he won't
make it back to port. As they hit a storm in the Atlantic, jealousy,
spite, snobbery and suspicion are churned up in the boat's stiflingly
close quarters...

First published in 1935, The Pitards
was one of the first novels Simenon wrote when he shelved his famous
Maigret series in order to strike out in a new direction and make a name
for himself as a literary writer. This gripping evocation of life at
sea revolves around class and the tense unravelling of relationships,
powerful themes that Simenon would return to throughout his writing
career.