A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle
A Fatal Crossing is the first novel by Tom Hindle, who also wrote Murder on Lake Garda, which I read recently. I was lucky enough to find a copy of A Fatal Crossing in our village’s free bus stop library.
A Fatal Crossing is set entirely over the course of a few days in November 1924. All of the action takes place on board Endeavour – a ship sailing for New York. It is narrated by Timothy Birch, an officer on Endeavour.
When a body is found at the bottom of a flight of stairs on Endeavour, the passengers and crew assume it was a tragic accident. But a police officer on board, Mr Temple, thinks it is murder. He insists on seeing the body, so he can conduct an investigation. The ship’s captain reluctantly agrees, on the condition that Mr Temple is accompanied by Mr Birch.
It’s not long before Birch agrees with Temple’s view that it was murder. Together, they start to interview anyone who had been seen with the dead man and try to piece together more about his life. But their questions need to be discreet – with more than 2,000 passengers on board, they don’t want to upset them by making them think there is a murderer among them…
Birch is an unhappy man who cuts himself off from the rest of the crew. He’s hoping an old friend can help him out with a problem when he gets to New York. Temple isn’t keen to be accompanied by Birch, but he has no choice in the matter. Birch is convinced Temple is hiding something too…
A Fatal Crossing is an Agatha Christie-style locked room mystery. The ship is big and complex – with different decks and stairways giving lots of places to hide and lots of escape routes. For me, it was a bit of a slow burn. The investigations seemed to go on a bit too long for my liking. I also found it slightly confusing that people were nearly always referred to by Mr/ Mrs/ Miss – no doubt the norm for the time. It seems my retention of surnames isn’t as good as my retention of first names, so I found it harder to remember who was who. But the pace picked up towards the end and there was a big twist I really didn’t see coming!
If you enjoy an Agatha Christie or cosy crime, A Fatal Crossing is a fun read, with enough secrets to keep you guessing right to the end.
