A Fatal Crossing: Agatha Christie meets Titanic in this unputdownable mystery

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The whole story takes place over a four day period in November 1924 as the cruise liner Endeavour approaches New York from Southampton with two thousand passengers and crew on board. When an elderly man is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, the ship’s captain assumes – and hopes – that it’s an accident. However, James Temple, a Scotland Yard inspector, happens to be one of the passengers on the voyage and, after examining the body, he is convinced that the old man has been murdered. The captain gives The characters are not especially likeable and I'm not sure there's a single one you can trust but they're all very well crafted. I could picture each and every one. There is certainly plenty to like about "The Murder Game" and the influence of those aforementioned authors is plainly evident. There is a nice prologue to set the scene and introduce the key protagonists in true "Golden Age" mystery fashion. The setting, too, is very Christie-esque and I liked the way the author made use of a 1920s themed murder mystery game to create a mystery within a mystery. Not only did this allow homage to be paid to that classic era, but it also reminded me of the technique employed by Anthony Horowitz in his "Magpie Murders" and "Moonflower Murders" books. It won't escape fans of Horowitz that there is something of a "Midsomer Murders" feel to this story too.

When an elderly gentleman is found dead at the foot of a staircase, ship's officer Timothy Birch is ready to declare it a tragic accident. But James Temple, a strong-minded Scotland Yard inspector, is certain there is more to this misfortune than meets the eye.

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It’s November 1924, when the ship Endeavour sets sail from Southampton for New York, with a total of 2000 passengers and crew. 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 board, takes an interest it appears that there might be a more sinister reason for the death. This historical murder mystery set on an atlantic crossing in the 1920s is unlike my usual reading choices but it turned out to be a good choice nonetheless. This was a story that started out with what seemed to be a reasonably easy to fathom death that may or may not be a crime. All this evolved into an incredibly knotted web of shenanigans. I was hooked from the first chapter. This one couldn’t be more up my street if it tried – a 1920s setting, a murder mystery, a transatlantic crossing aboard a ship… it’s the ultimate in closed circle mysteries!

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. Thanks to Sarah Harwood for putting this book into my hands – I am grateful. As always, opinions are entirely my own. Days earlier, she had accidentally come across, in a second-hand leather suitcase she’d bought on a whim, some Polaroid photos of young women in similar poses. The photo of two girls on a Danish Ferry rang faint bells, and research proved it was a hitherto unknown photo of the very last time that teenagers Lisbeth Morgensen and Lulu Brandt had been seen before their disappearance in 1985. Nora’s editor agrees there might be a story in it, so she gets the go ahead to investigate. Fatal Crossing has been translated from Danish, and while the translation was smooth enough, I did bristle at the overuse of the word chubby to describe several female characters in the book.

The suspects? Everyone involved in the murder mystery party. From the actors, the guests, to the staff in Hamlet Hall. The whole story takes place over a four day period in November 1924 as the cruise liner Endeavour approaches New York from Southampton with two thousand passengers and crew on board. When an elderly man is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, the ship’s captain assumes – and hopes – that it’s an accident. However, James Temple, a Scotland Yard inspector, happens to be one of the passengers on the voyage and, after examining the body, he is convinced that the old man has been murdered. The captain gives Temple permission to investigate the crime, but only if he agrees to be accompanied by one of the ship’s officers, Timothy Birch. Speaking of the photo and what happened to the two girls in it. Wow. I was not expecting that at all. I don’t want to say anything here about what happened because I hate spoiling books for other people. But I love books where I don’t see the ending coming. 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.

With just days remaining until they reach New York, and even Temple’s purpose on board the Endeavour proving increasingly suspicious, Birch’s search for the culprit is fraught with danger. For some unknown reason (most likely my inability to read a synopsis properly) I thought this was going to be a historical who dunnit in the style of Agatha Christies And Then There Were None but while there are some similarities it's a little bit different. For one thing it's set in the present day with a group of residents from a small village, and a few unexpected guests, attending a murder mystery party on New Year's Eve at the local hotel. While it seems like it should be a fun night out not everyone's motives are what they seem. There's the troubled joint owner of the hotel who has devised a mystery game that has links to events from the past, a couple who have been protesting the redevelopment of the local lighthouse, the builder and his wife looking to improve their social standing and a journalist looking for a big story to get him out of town. Add to this a small cast of actors and a few unexpected attendees and it's a recipe for an interesting and murderous evening. While a diligent officer, Birch is considered a recluse. His behaviour since returning from leave has alienated him from the other officers. The reason, we learn, is that he is haunted by the disappearance of his young daughter, missing for over two years, for which he blames himself, and the subsequent breakdown of his marriage. A piece of yellow ribbon he continually plays with is the only connection to the daughter he may never see again. His inability to move on from self-blame is seen as a weakness, but sheds light on what motivates him, his purpose in heading to New York and what awaits him there.

I have rated it 3 stars for several reasons, the first being that the characters are all unlikable. Birch is so utterly annoying with his constant ribbon playing that I nearly put the book down. Temple is also deeply unlikable, he’s constantly aggravated and highly strung and there isn’t one good quality about him. The rest of characters are bland and that’s being polite. The pace of the book was okay, it was neither super fast nor agonizingly slow, just perfect. I loved that we get different perspectives throughout the night, to get inside scopes to the different guests' mind and their anxiety through the night. Globalt στο Λονδίνο, αγοράζει μια βαλίτσα από ένα παλαιοπωλείο όπου θα ανακαλύψει στο εσωτερικό της διάφορες φωτογραφίες κοριτσιών. Ανάμεσα σε αυτές υπάρχει και μια που απεικονίζει δύο κοπέλες από τη Δανία οι οποίες είχαν εξαφανιστεί το 1985 όταν ταξίδευαν με φεριμπότ προς την Αγγλία. Λόγω επαγγέλματος θα ξυπνήσει μέσα της η δημοσιογραφική περιέργεια και θα αρχίσει να σκαλίζει την ιστορία των δύο κοριτσιών με τις έρευνες της να την οδηγούν σε αλεπάλληλα ταξίδια ανάμεσα στην Κοπεγχάγη και στο Λονδίνο, σε αμέτρητες συνεντεύξεις με μάρτυρες αλλά και σε συναντήσεις με άτομα από το παρελθόν της που θα την οδηγήσουν τελικά σε έναν serial killer που εκτίει ισόβια κάθειρξη στο Γουλφ Χολ, μια πασίγνωστη βρετανική φυλακή. Η αναζήτηση της αλήθειας για την εξαφάνιση των δύο κοριτσιών και για το τι ακριβώς τους συνέβη θα αποδειχθεί τρομακτικά επικίνδυνη όσο θα πλησιάζει προς αυτήν… For the above reasons, whilst I genuinely did enjoy the story and wanted to know how it ended, I do not think I would have persevered to the end had I not felt obliged to leave an informed review.