Tom Hindle

Aspiring travel writer Chloe has been commissioned to write about the debut voyage of a luxury airship over the North Pole. However the cast and the crew all have their own concerns and worries. Is this really a sustainable way to travel? When one of the founders of the company is found dead, sabotage is suspected. As the weather closes in, are any of them safe?
I really like Hindle's books and this is no exception. There's a genuine homage to the Golden Age in scenarios, especially the show more locked room where everyone has some sort of motive. It's 'Death on the Nile' but a lot colder and with lovely modern twists around eco-warriors, insurance etc whilst still looking at deep motives. The writing it light and the plot bounces along at a good pace. This is entertaining crime fiction with a deftness of touch. show less

In November 1924 Timothy Birch sets sail, as an officer of the crew of the Endeavour, a luxury liner bound for New York. We gradually learn that Birch has only recently returned to duty, and that there is a domestic tragedy lurking behind him.

Before the ship has made much headway into its crossing, one of the passengers travelling third class finds the body of a man at the base of a companionway. In an attempt to prevent the news spreading about the ship and sparking rumours and unhelpful show more speculation, the Captain gives orders for the body to be stowed away, with the circumstances to be investigated by the local authorities when the ship docks in New York. Unfortunately, the Captain’s hopes are dashed when one of the passengers identifies himself as a detective from Scotland Yard, and asks permission to investigate the circumstances behind the man’s death. These prove to be far more complicated than anyone had anticipated.

Tom Hindle captures the atmosphere onboard the liner effectively, and the plot takes the form of a traditional golden age mystery in which the scene is cut off from the outside world. In this case, however, there is an unusually wide range of suspects. Hindle maintains the suspense well, too, and as the story progresses we learn more about the domestic tragedy that has blighted Birch’s life. We also gradually form a view on why the detective is on board, with hints at his unconventional past.

Overall, while I enjoyed the book, I felt that it did not live up to the promise of his other novel, [A Killer in Paradise], which I read recently and found utterly engrossing. show less

A Fatal Crossing is a locked-room mystery with a difference: it's set aboard the Endeavour, an ocean liner bound for New York with 2,000 passengers, amongst them a potential killer.

It's no spoiler to say an unexpected death occurs at the beginning of the story. An elderly man is found at the foot of a flight of steps. One of the ship's officers, Timothy Birch, is tasked with dealing with what seems to be a tragic accident but when a Scotland Yard policeman, James Temple, who is also on show more board, takes an interest it appears that there might be a more sinister reason for the death.

Birch and Temple make for an interesting investigating duo. It's fair to say Temple is the lead and he's more maverick in his techniques than the quite strait-laced Birch, but their back-stories make them particularly intriguing. Birch is the narrator and we follow him as he travels around the ship with Temple. I enjoyed the descriptions of each section of the boat, from the extravagance of first class to the pleasant but smaller areas in second class, and then to the cramped conditions of third class.

I must admit to getting a bit befuddled at times as to who was who on the ship but not to the point that I couldn't follow what was going on. Many of the passengers are travelling to an art fair in New York and so there's quite a bit of crossover between them, and it seems that all roads lead back to a very special painting. It's a very engaging story that kept me hooked all the way through and which really kept me guessing in more ways than one.

Set in 1924, A Fatal Crossing is in the golden age style of crime writing and it has a definite nod to Agatha Christie's work. It goes along at a fine pace with a clever ending that I loved. I thought it was an excellent historical crime mystery. show less

Best for:
Fans of cozy mysteries.

In a nutshell:
Laurence and Eva are getting married in Italy. The bride is running late to the ceremony and then we hear a scream. So … what’s happened?

Worth quoting:
N/A (though the writing is good, just nothing stood out to me).

Why I chose it:
Working my way through Hindle’s back catalogue

Review:
Third book of Hindle’s that I’ve read and probably my favorite so far. This book is 360 pages long and the murder in question isn’t revealed until page show more 150ish. That’s WILD set-up but it works so well.

While we get many different perspective chapters, I’d say the main character of the book is Robyn. Robyn is meeting her boyfriend’s Toby’s family for the first time at this wedding, and it’s a rough go. Toby’s family is super wealthy, and Toby is interested in opening and running a bar, not working for the family business. But his brother (the groom) and his mother are absolutely determined to get Toby in, and they do not like Robyn, as she is ‘just’ a bartender, and they think she’s steering Toby astray (she’s not).

Eva is a rich influencer and a brat, Laurence is a stuck up private school boy (as are most of his friends). But we also have Stephen - a friend who went to school with Laurence but was a scholarship kid, and his wife Abigail.

The wedding is taking place in the height of summer in Italy, and things heat up literally and metaphorically. A magazine is covering the event, so there’s a photographer and Eva’s agent in tow.

The writing in this is great, and I get such a sense of who each of these people are. I made the mistake of having about 150 pages left when I got in bed last night, and had to stay up late to finish it because I couldn’t put it down. show less