I missed the book club meeting which discussed Tom Hindle’s murder mystery debut. I’ve heard since that the general consensus was that it was an entertaining read though overly long; an assessment which matches my own thoughts.
A Fatal Crossing pays homage to the traditions of the Golden Age of crime mysteries, particularly those using the locked-room device.
It’s set in 1924 on a transatlantic steamship The Endeavour, as it carries some 2,000 passengers to New York.
The voyage has barely got under way when the body of one elderly passenger is found at the foot of an outside stairwell. He could have fallen down during a storm during the night but one man harbours suspicions that this was not a natural death.
As a detective inspector with Scotland Yard, James Temple knows a thing or two about suspicious deaths. He gets a grudging agreement from the ship’s Captain to investigate the death on two conditions. One, he has to keep his suspicions from other passengers. And two, he must be accompanied at all times by one of the ship’s officers, Timothy Birch.
The plot idea is sound with oodles of suspects, multiple motives and plenty of red herrings to keep readers guessing. Hindle does a good job of conveying the atmosphere aboard The Endeavour with all its sharp divisions between those travelling in steerage and those in first class who enjoy every possible luxury.
But there’s too much repetition of details to make it sing. And the two central characters — Temple and Birth — are dull chaps by and large. There’s an attempt to give them more substance via back stories which explain why they are so intense and lacking in inter-personal skills. But those stories don’t compensate for the fact that there isn’t enough variety in their behaviours to make them interesting.
Birch veers between frustration that Temple is shutting him out of the investigation and a bull-headed attitude that he can solve this mystery themselves. Temple is either irritated or angry. When he’s not scowling, he’s snapping. It all gets rather tedious.
Most of the other characters are not given much substance so I couldn’t remember who was who. I gave up in the end and just let the story take its course.
A Fatal Crossing isn’t going to blow anyone’s socks off but not every novel needs to do that surely? Sometimes we just need something entertaining and not too demanding which is exactly what this book offers.
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