Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review.
This was a really solid murder mystery, but I do want to warn everyone that it is nowhere near as twisty and meta as you might be expecting if you’ve read some of her previous books. Don’t do like I did and keep waiting for some mega surprising twist at the end; it’s not that kind of book. When they say they’ve solved the mystery, they’ve solved the mystery!
Anyway, non-meta stuff aside, this is a fun story about a brother and sister treating themselves to a ride on the infamous Orient Express. The brother is a crime writer and is recently in remission from cancer (I learned via the acknowledgements that it’s based on the author’s recent experiences) so they’re there to celebrate. But of course there is a murder. And another. Another. Until there are five. Obvs.
The conductor brings together all the people with experience of crime and the law, hoping to get some advice before the train can make it back to Paris (a little bit of COVID makes an appearance and Italy refuses to let them disembark). Of course these people take it upon themselves to try and solve the crime themselves, and it is chaotic and fun.
I said this wasn’t as meta as her previous books, but it is still pretty meta, in that the story openly acknowledges the history of the train in fiction, and how that has changed the trail in real life, and how these murders would not be happening if crime writers of the past hadn’t made the train so infamous. As always, I like the way this author writes about writers (she’s done it all three of the books I’ve read from her).
I will continue to read books from this author, as she scratches an itch I frequently have about whodunits involving writers and/or books.