Cobh visit inspired a Titanic murder novel

IT is fair to say that a good few librarians are frustrated writers - but Angie Rowe wasn’t among them.

“I never had a hankering to write a book, or any idea about writing anything,” says Angie, from Tallaght, Dublin, who is mum to Graham and Darren.

Two things changed that. First, she got a present of a voucher for a writing course, then she went on a visit to Cobh with her husband, Chris, which provided inspiration for a plot.

The Seventh Passenger is the result - Angie’s debut novel, an intricate and excellently woven mystery, centred around the doomed Titanic; it keeps the reader guessing until the end.

“Six years ago, my son, Graham, gave me a voucher for a writing class as a Christmas present,” explains Angie.

I thought, well, I’ll have a go at it. I had a choice to do the course online or in person. I chose to do the course in person every week, to meet other people who were interested in writing and try and learn from them.

Angie was a late-comer to writing.

"I was 60, and everybody on the course was a lot younger than me,” she says. “I stuck with it. My tutor, Paula McGrath, was really good, she didn’t overwhelm me and gradually I learned how to tell a story and create characters.”

Before The Seventh Passenger was completed, Angie had an eBook published online.

“Eaten Bread was never in the shops,” she says. “But Poolbeg were interested, and they offered me a three-book deal.

“I was lucky I could manage the technology, being in the library at John of God Services Dublin.”

A visit to Cobh was the second thing that changed Angie’s mind about writing a book, when she and Chris visited the Titanic Experience in the summer of 2019. This unique visitor experience is located in the historic White Star building, the very place from where Titanic’s last passenger departed.

“We went to Cobh as a birthday treat for Chris the summer before Covid,” says Angie. “The family were to join us that August weekend.

“Chris loved anything to do with the Titanic and I was fairly interested. “We stayed at the Commodore Hotel on the sea-front and it was amazing - the weather was fabulous.”

The historian, Vincent McMahon, was a great help. “The level of detail he had on each passenger was fascinating,” says Angie.

“We started the tour, and the guide told us all about the seven passengers that disembarked from the Titanic in Queenstown, as Cobh was known then. The guide named six.

“The first passenger was a member of the Odell family, and the sixth passenger was Fr Francis Browne. The last one was Emily Nichols, and not much was known about her.”

Angie was curious.

I thought, that’s odd. Somebody involved in the Titanic who was on the ship escaped attention; it was like she disappeared, and nothing was written about her. I decided to look into it.

“I discovered Emily, travelling with a family friend, got on board in Southampton and got off in Queenstown where she was to join her husband.” But there was no record of him.

“I couldn’t find any record of Emily’s husband either in the Irish or British census,” says Angie.

The plot thickened.

“It seemed Emily had been widowed years before,” says Angie. “There was no husband to meet Emily and that set me off thinking. Why lie about that?

The mystery set Angie on her journey to write The Seventh Passenger.

I was taken with the idea, and I wondered about it.

“Given all the books and documentaries about the Titanic, how come Emily Nichols was never mentioned before? I decided to create a story. I changed Emily Nichols’ name to Amelia Nelson in the book.”

Angie got writing and she got researching.

“In my head, I wanted to write a murder/mystery,” she says.

Her next stop was along the Cork coast at Youghal.

“I bought a book by Peter O’Shea called Murder Most Local, says Angie.

“His stories are factual, and I wanted to know how the courts system worked back in the day. I was also looking for inspiration!”

Angie was well on her way to becoming a published author.

“I introduced Detective Inspector Lorcan O’Dowd from Youghal barracks,” she says.

“He is on the case when a body is pulled up by fishing nets the day after the Titanic docked in Cobh.

In his pocket is a bag with the Titanic written on it. By now the Titanic has sailed but not yet sunk.

“Inspector O’Dowd sets out to find out who this man, presumed murdered, was, and if he was aboard the Titanic.”

Like Angie, Inspector O’Dowd begins his research on the identity of the killer through the seven passengers that left the ship.

The story unravels the life of the dead man through those who knew him in England and China.

A woman is charged with his murder, but O’Dowd isn’t convinced. He is determined to find the real killer.

“The first third of the book is set in Youghal and London,” explains Angie.

“Then it moves to China where the Boxer Rebellion is raging - and tells how the missionaries in China manage to survive.

“The final third is the trial when everything comes together,” says Angie.

The Seventh Passenger, an enthralling ‘whodunnit’, took Angie three years to complete.

“I retired in 2001,” she says. “I worked on the book full-time. It went by in a flash!

“When I sent the first book, Eaten Bread, to lots of agents and publishers; I got the same letter; thanks, but no thanks. Nothing happened.

I emailed Poolbeg and they liked Eaten Bread and said yes, but it would have to be an eBook. I said yes.

Angie ended up agreeing to a three-book deal.

“I was shocked!” she laughs.

“At this stage I was about to retire - so what was not to like about that?

Nothing. Except you’d have to come up with some novel ideas to appeal to readers!

“And I didn’t have loads of ideas!” says Angie, still laughing.

“I wasn’t like other writers who have three or four books stashed away!”

But there was another book in her.

“The visit to Cobh kicked The Seventh Passenger off,” says Angie.

“And the staff at the Titanic Experience were so helpful.”

Angie likes books that rattle along at a good pace.

The Seventh Passenger, a work of historical fiction, doesn’t disappoint. It would be a good choice to bring on holidays with you.

Angie has been delighted with the reaction to the book.

“I told my husband that I was talking to you today and he said, ‘There’ll be no living with you!”

There’s a third book in Angie.

“I’m looking at the sacking of Baltimore and the pirates,” she says.

I’ll be back down in Cork to do my research.

The Seventh Passenger is out in early July in all good bookshops.