Books like Red sky in morning by Patrick Culhane

In 1943, Ensign Peter Maxwell, a San Diego choir director, is eager to join the war effort. When the navy enlists him and his vocal quartet, the Fantail Four, to serve aboard the Liberty Hill Victory, they confront the perils of wartime service and deeply entrenched racism. The ship carries a crew of largely untrained African‑American sailors from diverse backgrounds, and their arrival in San Francisco’s Port Chicago is marked by a horrific explosion that paints the sky red. A mutiny by the surviving black crew, protesting unsafe conditions, forces the Liberty Hill to refuel the port while a racist captain threatens their mission. Maxwell allies with former Chicago cop Seaman “Sarge” Washington, and together they complete the dangerous loading—though not without cost. The crew then faces a literal typhoon that could destroy their cargo and a figurative storm when a white officer is found murdered in Shaft Alley, threatening to spark a larger conflict. Maxwell and Washington must work together to prevent a vengeful murderer from igniting a floating powder keg during the vast backdrop of war.

First publish date: 2008