The Adventure of the 'Gloria Scott' / Arthur Conan Doyle -- The eight-mile lock / L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace -- The gift of the emperor / E. W. Hornung -- Bullion! / William Hope Hodgson -- The echo of a mutiny / R. Austin Freeman -- The pool of secrets / Gwyn Evans -- Four Friends and Death / Christopher St John Sprigg -- The turning of the tide / C. S. Forester -- The swimming pool / H. C. Bailey -- A Question of timing / Phyllis Bentley -- The thimble river mystery / Josephine Bell -- Man overboard / Edmund Crispin -- The queer fish / Kem Bennett -- The Man who was drowned / James Pattinson -- Seasprite / Andrew Garve -- Death by water / Michael Innes.

From picturesque canals to the swirling currents of the ocean, a world of secrets lies buried beneath the surface of the water. Dubious vessels crawl along riverbeds, while the murky depths conceal more than one gruesome murder. The stories in this collection will dredge up delight in crime fiction fans, as watery graves claim unintended dwellers and disembodied whispers penetrate the sleeping quarters of a ship's captain. How might a thief plot their escape from a floating crime scene? And what is to follow when murder victims, lost to the ocean floor, inevitably resurface? This British Library anthology uncovers the best mysteries set below the surface, including stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, William Hope Hodgson and R. Austin Freeman.