While most of A Fatal Crossing conforms with a traditional "whodunnit" mystery format in the traditional style, the dramatic ending comprises a shift into thriller territory, with a great twist that I certainly didn't see coming! Giving it 3 stars because of the ridiculous number of typos in it. They were terribly distracting. The story itself was riveting, and even though the timeline was jumpy, I can see why the author made those choices. News of the death of a passenger travels rapidly among the passengers, raising speculation as to the elderly man's identity and cause of death. The Endeavour's Captain, McCrory, is on his retirement voyage and is keen for the matter to be cleared up with the minimum of fuss and inconvenience to himself and his passengers. However, one passenger demands an audience with the Captain, identifying himself as a Scotland Yard detective James Temple, en route to New York on "police business", the nature of which he refuses to divulge. He raises certain suspicious anomalies that indicate that the passenger's death may not be as simple as the accident that the Captain is so keen to assume. While adamant that the passengers must not be unduly disturbed, Captain McCrory reluctantly accedes to Temple's insistence upon undertaking preliminary investigations, but only on the basis that ship's officer Timothy Birch accompany him at all times. My favourite westward Atlantic crossing detective novel is Peter Lovesey's The Fake Inspector Dew (1981), but A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle is a first-rate addition to the corpus [...] A very good debut novel' The Critic Read more Look Inside Details

Birch is an intriguing character. He's reeling from a recent family trauma, the details of which emerge over the course of the narrative, and his resulting taciturn introversion ostracises him from the majority of his fellow officers and crewmen aboard Endeavour. Nevertheless, he makes an intuitive and increasingly engaged associate for the acerbic Temple as together they view the body, search a cabin and interview several passengers who may have known the victim. Timothy Birch, an officer on The Endeavour, carries a great burden with him. His daughter Amelia has been missing for two years, and he feels responsible, as he was away at sea at the time. His wife Kate had pleaded with him not to go, worrying that should something happen, she wouldn’t have anyone to turn to, and then of course it did. Kate has since left him, and he’s completely distraught. Temple is furious that he has to put up with Birch, and so begins their acrimonious partnership in which the pair have 4 days to find a killer, after which the liner arrives in New York, the passengers disembark, and there will be no chance of resolving the case. Birch is a traumatised man who served in the war, left with a bullet wound in his shoulder. His daughter, Amelia, has been missing for 2 years, and his marriage to Kate has fallen apart. He blames himself, he is a shadow of the man he used to be, putting his hopes in finding Amelia on the only person he has any faith in, American Raymond, clinging to a yellow ribbon belonging to Amelia as if his life depended on it. Virtually all the crew, with the exception of Wilson avoid Birch, he is incapable of maintaining any relationship. Temple is a man with his own demons and secrets, he refuses to divulge what police business has him travelling on the liner. If I’m being honest, I had no intention at first of writing a novel. The idea for A Fatal Crossing – that being a murder mystery set on board a 1920s cruise liner – first came to me while I was in sixth form, and the plan at that point was to write it up as a play which I’d put on with some friends.The rhythm of the opening and its structure reminded me of song ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ by Björk. It is a chilly November morning and one woman, and her child are braving the wet weather, after being confined in less than ideal third-class accommodation on the ship. Things are grey and drizzly, but to some degree quiet and peaceful, when suddenly the little boy’s screams punctuates the silence. Naturally it is he who finds the first body. Still mad that I spent actual time reading this. On holiday, no less. Less cosy crime, more lazy crime. No fun, too confusing to follow, and a twist at the end which makes no sense and isn’t even interesting, let alone satisfying. The storyline ensures that the reader is kept entertained and towards the end, there was a scenario that seemed to present itself to me as a possible twist, however, I was completely wrong - there certainly was a twist, an almighty twist at that, but not the one I was expecting! I spent six months revisiting and refining the story that I’d originally come up with at school, with the end result being that only three of my original characters made it across from the play to the book. All the while, I was reading as many crime novels as I could lay my hands on.

It’s quite clear that on a ship you’re a captive audience, but imagine being on said ship with a killer on board! When an elderly gentleman is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, Tim believes it to be a terrible accident, but James Temple, a surly Scotland Yard detective, is suspicious right from the start, and he’s determined to investigate. The ship’s Captain isn’t happy about this, it wouldn’t do to have the passengers believing there’s a killer on board, but he allows Temple to proceed as long as Tim shadows him as he carries out his interviews. With Tim’s personal problems though, he’s possibly not strong enough mentally, to deal with the proceedings.

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I really enjoyed this debut whodunit from Tom Hindle. I'm a fan of the genre, and this one had suspects a-plenty, lots of twists and intrigue and a clever wrap-up. SPOILER ALERT* the protagonist’s daughter has gone missing, which is an underlying theme within the story. For something which apparently drives the protagonist and is the reason for his journey, there is no information given on HOW she goes missing. It’s his fault? But HOW? He was on a ship when it happened - where was her mother?! It just makes no sense. A very clever plot and a final twist which will delight Agatha Christie fans. You will love it!!!' Ragnar Jonasson But at least, that made him have something in common with the other characters because they were just as flat. When I say flat, I mean Ewan-McGregor-in-Trainspotting-flat ( physically speaking!!). Birch is supposed to be more interesting because the reader learns early on that SOMETHING tragic happened in this past that he is still not over yet. All we know is that it’s a familial tragedy that makes him alienated from the rest of the crew, boohoo. A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle is a mystery set on the Endeavour, a cruise liner travelling to New York in the winter of 1924. This piece of historical fiction grips us from the very start when Timothy Birch, the ship's officer, is led to deal with the death of an elderly gentleman. When detective James Temple demands an investigation, the ship’s captain insists Birch accompany Temple throughout.

A tantalizing and captivating plot, filled with detail and texture to enhance the feeling of the halcyon days of the liners and their times' Shots Magazine Literally the worst thing I have ever read. I only finished it because it was chosen by my book club. It felt like I was reading a year 11’s GCSE coursework for creative writing, the descriptions were so poor and repetitive. How many times can character’s nostrils flare? They were also so one dimensional. The ending was also disappointing and felt unfinished. I appreciated a few twists, but all felt rushed and put together at the end as if the author was deliberately leaving it unfinished to try and get a sequel out of it. It would have been illuminating to hear more about her research methods and tactics, vis a vis archival research. It’s obvious she knows this story inside and out. Whatever happened, it’s a mystery that is supposed to keep readers guessing and hopefully continue reading which I did! I ate this up and I can’t even say why!! This may be a closed-circle mystery, but it wasn’t suspenseful even though they were all trapped on one ship. Birch and Temple spend their days interviewing other passengers, potential suspects and witnesses, going from one cabin to the next while the only thing Temple does is be angry and shout at people and Birch always calms everyone down.Tom Hindle hails from Leeds and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, a cat and two surprisingly cunning tortoises. He is the author of A Fatal Crossing and now The Murder Game - which have both been inspired by masters of the crime genre such as Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz.