Motives And Mathematics

I suppose that, when we begin to read a mystery novel, we should be on the alert for possible murder motives among the characters. In the opening chapter of Poul Anderson's Murder Bound (New York, 1962), set on board the Norwegian ship, the Valborg, we learn that there has been a coldness between the chief steward, Jonas Ellegard, and the passenger, Conrad Lauring, "...since the Perlmutter episode." (i, p. 3)

However, Ellegard seems to want "...to end their unspoken feud." (ibid.) Unused to good humor, he rather heavily describes Lauring, who is a mathematician, as:

"'Another Niels Henrik Abel, eh?'" (ibid.)

This is good characterization. We all recognize: coldness between two guys because of an incident (as yet unspecified); a clumsy, although hopefully well meant, attempt to end the coldness. But this is a mystery novel. Will one of the characters go overboard in the the fog and the darkness before the ship reaches San Francisco? Read on.