Lead Review

• Book: A Fatal Crossing
• Location: The Atlantic Ocean
• Author: Tom Hindle

Review Author: tripfiction

3.75*

Choosing to set a novel aboard an ocean liner is always a recipe for intrigue and mystery, where no-one can escape unless they jump ship to an inevitable death. The Endeavour lends itself well to a ‘locked room’  – aka locked-boat – mystery à la Agatha Christie, set in the Golden Age. The ship is sailing the Atlantic from England to New York.

“A community of strangers brought together for six nights, with no option to leave. Nowhere for anyone to escape to. It wouldn’t take much to disturb such a delicate balance….”

It is November 1924 and the ship has been sailing for 2 days, when a seemingly random death occurs. The passengers are all atwitter. It just so happens that a detective from Scotland Yard – Temple – happens to be aboard on a cloak and dagger mission to New York on behalf of the English police. He is keen to investigate, but needs the permission – nay, assistance – of Captain McCrory to begin investigations. Mr Birch, on the captain’s instructions will accompany him in this matter. And thus the scene is capably set.

This is a nicely plotted whodunnit, where the storyline is laid out well and imaginatively, the characters are vehicles in the construct. A quick and entertaining read.

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