A Fatal Crossing – Tom Hindle

As a fan of the Golden Age of Crime, this new murder mystery set on an ocean going liner seemed the perfect book to lose myself in.

In a play on the locked room mystery, The Endeavour sets sail from Southampton to New York. It is 1924. The social class system is in full swing and clearly evident and I think this novel shows it well.

When a man is found dead at the bottom of the staircase, the captain thinks it was a mere accident. Anything else would cause concern among the passengers. However step forward James Temple, an Inspector from Scotland Yard on his way to New York for what purpose we don’t know for a long time. Conveniently he is keen to solve this mysterious death – convinced it is murder. The captain agrees but only if he is accompanied by Tim Birch one of the ship’s officers.

A very unlikely pairing with secrets of their own, Temple and Birch find themselves investigating a missing painting, a scratch on a car and mysterious women all somehow connected to the dead man.

It becomes a race against time to find out the truth about what is happening on The Endeavour and the plot whilst complicated at times, throws in lots of twists, turns and a plentiful of red herrings that when you reach what you think of the dénouement, you are swept off your feet by the actions that happen next. Thrilling.

This debut novel has all the hallmarks of being a book everyone will be talking about. Taking the classic murder mystery and pretty much sticking to the genre, it does not pastiche any of those that have gone before. It is worthy of standing along amongst the greats and I for one am looking forward to the next book by this author.

Thank you to the publisher via netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Fatal Crossing is out now.