Book review: Death in the Arctic by Tom Hindle

Death in the Arctic by Tom Hindle is brings us a golden age detective story combined with a locked room mystery. It’s set on an airship – the first of its kind and supposedly the size of a football field. I’m not a visual person so couldn’t picture it at all but I gather that’s massive and it mustn’t fly too high as it’s powered by propellers and afloat thanks to helium. As a complete aside I was extremely traumatised by the movie The Hindenburg when I was a child and still recall my horror that people knew they were about to be burned to death (or fall to it!), so there was a bit of a sense of the macabre for me here.

When aspiring travel writer Chloé Campbell is invited aboard a luxury airship flying to the North Pole, she thinks she’s bagged the opportunity of a lifetime.

But she hasn’t had long to admire the dazzling icy views before a fellow passenger is found dead in their cabin.

Trapped at the top of the world, the group agrees a tragic accident has occurred. But as the hours tick by, fear turns to doubt.

It seems everyone’s a suspect. And it isn’t long before the passengers begin to turn on each other . . .

There are a list of passengers and crew in the front of this book and it worried me initially that we were going to be expected to remember A LOT of characters, but Hindle transitions us in smoothly – meeting some gradually and getting familiar with those we spend the most time with. This unfolds from several points of view but freelance travel writer Chloe feels as if she’s our main narrator and she’s a likeable lead. I appreciated the backstory Hindle gives her, as a avid traveller and blogger trying to break into the travel writing world.

Hindle doesn’t waste too much time in the preamble but gets the Osprey in the air pretty quickly. There’s some time spent ensuring readers realise how sumptuous the airship is but there’s also a sense of trepidation as soooo many of our characters have bad vibes about this trial voyage – not least Howard, the company founder. We learn the advent of the airship is bittersweet for its founders (Howard and younger partner Ezra) as Howard and Ezra’s father first came up with the idea on a expedition (in which Ezra’s father died in an accident) twenty years earlier. The son dedicating his life to his father’s dream as a result, and convincing Howard to embark on a trial flight (with 8 invited guests as well as crew) to mark the anniversary of the tragedy and genesis of the airship.

What I liked most about this book was some of the character development. I’d sometimes want more but it’s very reminiscent of Agatha Christie and the like. We don’t get everyone’s life story but the snapshots Hindle shares are enough that we know ‘who’ these characters are. Almost caricatures, but he cleverly refrains from going too far.

I think this is a tad more predictable than it needs be, and Dame Agatha was the queen of ‘casually’ referencing a past incident that later becomes pivotal (or is the catalyst) and I think if less focus had been on past events here, [the whodunit] might have come as more of a surprise. There is (however) an additional (kinda sad) little twist that I didn’t see coming.

Death in the Arctic by Tom Hindle will be published in Australia in January 2025 by Penguin Books. I enjoyed this and am now keen to read more of Hindle’s work.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.