There were some incredible twists to the plot, none more than the final twist. I would never have seen that coming and I really didn't sense any foreshadowing even on reflection. Raymond maybe had me wondering at something but I wasn't sure what. Whilst there’s a great twist at the end that I hadn’t seen coming, the main murder mystery just didn’t hold my attention. The book felt over long in places, and the storyline about the missing daughter felt too much like a plot device to really inspire any sympathy for Birch. I guess I just wanted to know who the murderer was but guess what, it’s only been three weeks since I finished the book and I have already forgotten, lmao.

It’s New years eve and a murder mystery party is being held at Hamlet Hall hotel. A hotel that has seen better days. In a secluded area of North Devon and there is no phone signal. There are eight guests, all with secrets of their own. Which had something to do with a body that is found on a beach over twenty years ago. This book was actually such a fun book to read, it was a bit slow at some places, but I think it has the perfect amount of tension and cliffhangers between each hour of the night were delectable I was at the edge of my seat whenever I finished a part and had to sleep because I had to wake up early the next day. Whilst the plot was generally well structured, it felt too slow - the whole story takes place over just four days, but the narrative made it feel like several weeks. Fewer clichéd descriptions and less outrage on Birch's part would have gone some way towards remedying this, but the whole book would have benefited from more stringent editing and refinement.That said, I’d whole-heartedly recommend this lively and entertaining mystery. The twists are suitably twisty and the denouement genuinely surprising. The setting is vivid and the characters are well-drawn, even if you do love to hate them at times! The suspects? Everyone involved in the murder mystery party. From the actors, the guests, to the staff in Hamlet Hall.

This was a great follow-up to A Fatal Crossing, which might have been the better of the two, but The Murder Game is a strong story that sweeps you right up. But at least, that made him have something in common with the other characters because they were just as flat. When I say flat, I mean Ewan-McGregor-in-Trainspotting-flat ( physically speaking!!). Birch is supposed to be more interesting because the reader learns early on that SOMETHING tragic happened in this past that he is still not over yet. All we know is that it’s a familial tragedy that makes him alienated from the rest of the crew, boohoo.Overall it’s a good read and it was an entertaining few hours but it just didn’t have the depth and complexity I was hoping for.

My main reason for DNFing is because the premise is inaccurate, although my knowledge of this only comes from my career. Essentially, there's upset in a Devon village when the lighthouse is to be developed by a local developer who left for London as a teen and has returned; he is hugely unpopular because he 'stole' the planning permission for development from a popular local who also runs the tourist information. I'm a Town Planner and it's impossible to steal a planning permission, it belongs the building, not to a person. My other issue, that the local council is believed to have been bribed by the developer to give him the planning permission, comes across as lazy plotting that bashes 'corrupt' councils. Anyone can apply for planning permission, for any building, but only the person who owns it can implement that permission, if approved, and undertake the development. We also meet a whole range of people – who between them have a whole host of secrets! Not many of them were very nice people, but that’s fine as I was convinced that each of them in turn was the killer. I honestly suspected everyone – except there’s no way I’d have predicted the ending of the novel. The story opens with the death of an elderly gentleman on board ‘Endeavour’, a ship crossing to New York in 1926. A ship’s officer, Timothy Birch, tells the story of how he investigates, alongside a Scotland Yard officer (James Temple) also on the voyage. It’s a story that crosses the boundaries of First, Second and Third Class passenger areas, has a cast of many suspects, and is much more involved than it first seems… November 1924. The Endeavour sets sail for New York, with 2,000 passengers - and a killer - on board. This is your standard murder-at-the-party format that includes many twists and turns that accompany the complex narrative. There are deep lies and discoveries that intertwine between past and present and Hindle has really set a stride with this one. There are layers to these characters motives that are expressive but brutal. As before, we've had to pay attention to close details to follow everyone's steps and motives. This was an engaging read, but it did fall short on its surprises. The writing is innovative and can be deemed as a step up from A Fatal Crossing but the characters weren't as interesting. This could be more since A Fatal Crossing was one of my favourite reads of the year.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. Mounting an investigation, the pair uncover the theft of a priceless painting, and encounter a string of suspects with secrets to hide. My favourite westward Atlantic crossing detective novel is Peter Lovesey's The Fake Inspector Dew (1981), but A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle is a first-rate addition to the corpus [...] A very good debut novel' The Critic Read more Look Inside Details I really wanted to enjoy this book. I love Agatha Christie so a murder mystery set in the 1920’s sounded right up my street. Unfortunately I didn’t find myself particularly engaged in the story, or really caring about the outcome. Of course, the inevitable happens, and one of the guests ends up dead, and it seems impossible for anyone to have left the hotel. So the murderer is among them, and it’s left to the guests, along with local PC Natalie Fay, to get to the bottom of the group’s hidden secrets and possible motives, and uncover the killer.

I thought I would really enjoy this book, as the quote on the cover claims fans of Agatha Christie will like it. I was drawn to A Fatal Crossing first by the cover, then when I saw that it was a Golden Age-style mystery novel set at sea in the 1920s, I was even more interested! With no phone signal and no way out of the house, the others are trapped with a killer in their midst. Most of the characters are unlikable but that did not spoil the story at all if anything it only added more suspects to my list. From the despised to the pitied they are not only well-developed but realistic. The characters were mostly unlikeable apart from Theo, one of the actors hired for the party, and Lily, the victim’s daughter. I would have quite liked to see them team up and try and solve the mystery together.

Retailers:

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. 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!