Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers including Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, G. K. Chesterson etc. The club gave an opportunity for the members to meet over dinners and discuss plots and help each other. They even had an oath and agreed to adhere to a code of ethics so that the readers have a fair chance of guessing the culprit in their detective stories.
The Floating Admiral is a collaborative work done by many members of Detection Club including Chesterton, Whitechurch, Cole, Henry Wade, Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane and Anthony Berkeley.
This novel was written by the members of Detection Club as an answer to the critics who think the job of a mystery writer is very easy as they can always formulate the plot and the clues, the way that suits them. Each chapter was written by a member of the club, according to some rules. Each writer even wrote a solution to the mystery, all of which are given at the end of the book. Among these, the one given by Agatha Christie is considered the best.
Now, the bad news. "The Floating Admiral" is a brilliant experiment carried out by many of the finest people in detective fiction but sadly it fails to impress as a fine work of mystery. The same reasons that make it stand apart also fails it. There are so many clues, so many people involved and add to it the different styles of writing, you get a sort of "semi-mess"! This book is indeed an intellectual exercise for the writers and readers alike and it remains only that.
A perfect book for a collector, read it only if you can appreciate the effort behind it...3 out of 5.
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