The smoking room of a luxury transatlantic cruise ship erupts in chaos when Victor Timothy Smith is fatally shot during a sudden power failure. Remarkably, an autopsy reveals that Smith died of poisoning at the same instant he was being shot. Before very long, the man whom virtually everybody saw fire the gun is also found dead. The deaths are investigated by four psychiatrists, each of whom is gently spoofed in this artfully plotted, occasionally zany, mystery-satire from the 1930s. Equal parts comedy and thriller, Obelists at Sea will appeal to fans of both.