Riddle of the Sands

Carruthers is rescued from a hot foreign office in London by an out-of-the-blue invitation to join an acquaintance, Davis, on his yacht in the Baltic. He arrives to find that not only does Davis comprise the whole crew, but that he also needs Carruthers’ help in a spying mission with enormous stakes.

The Riddle of the Sands, with its early warnings of the dangers of a German invasion by sea, created a sensation when it appeared in 1903. It is the forerunner of the spy novels by John Le Carré and Graham Greene, and its detail and dry humor have made it a classic for sailors and thriller addicts alike.