This mystery will remind readers of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. It uses the well known mystery trope of putting people together somewhere from which they can not escape and with a serious killer in the mix.

In this book, there is a disparate group traveling on the overnight train to Fort William. What a group they are! There is a (constantly on her media) instagrammar and her rather awful boyfriend; a group hoping to make it in a trivia contest; a recently retired police officer; a member of the CPS: an elderly mother and son who have a cat named Moustache; a young woman named Ember; train crew and more.

It takes a while for the first murder to occur although it is acknowledged on the very first page of the book. More trouble and chaos will ensue before the train is again in motion following its derailment.

The book’s protagonist has a bit of a complex backstory. Readers will hope that she is able to make it to her daughter and new granddaughter soon and unscathed.

As a bonus, this book is peppered with puzzles. I think that these extras are trademarks for this author.

I enjoyed this title. Readers of locked room mysteries will enjoy trying to solve the case.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much for the ARC!

When I saw that this book was about murders on a train stopped in the middle of nowhere, I requested it right away as I love these kind of settings !

In the end, the story starts about 50% into the story. We spend a lot of time learning about the characters as we know one of them will be the killer, but none of them was attaching nor interesting except for the main character. They all seemed to have one personality trait for the whole book and that was it. It was a quick read, which is good because there's hardly any twist and turns until the very end, and even then, it felt a bit messy.

The main themes are rape, domestic violence, traumatic birth experiences, and there is good discourse about believing victims of assault and speaking up. Other than that, it wasn't an unforgettable read unfortunaly.

On another note, the formatting of the ARC on my kindle was terrible.

I grabbed this the moment I saw the title, but I'm sorry to say it didn't meet my hopes. The story is fairly predictable, the writing pedestrian and the characters stock. It's extremely graphic about physical, emotional and sexual abuse, including rape - unexpectedly so, in a Golden Age-inspired 'cosy'. I also bristled at the cringe insert of a nonbinary person with a sapiosexual partner, who earnestly explains their sexuality so the main character can nod acceptingly and think how relatable they are. I did actually rather like the main character, Roz, and her mission through the night with a bag of sweets to her pregnant daughter. Crones, indeed. But, overall, not for me.

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Dark Themes Abound,,
The sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed on Christmas Eve amidst appalling weather conditions. In the midst of the snow, the passengers are trapped and a killer lurks. With a large, although well drawn, cast of characters making a long list of suspects, a typical setting and an intricate plot this is a modernised version of a well used Golden Age theme although distressing and serious themes abound amongst the characters which makes this particular tale rather heavier and much darker than expected. An interesting, although disturbing and unexpected, well written mystery.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.