An Agatha Christie Homage, locked room mystery on a train with interesting and fun characters.
Smooth read, cozy and atmospheric vibes.
Overall fun and entertaining.

The only thing I didn't like is the transcript of the podcast episode at the end of the book. Didn't bring anything more to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sulari Gentill and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super fun and cozy mystery/who dunnit. There was a very large cast of characters with an array of personalities and some other languages briefly thrown in. This did take me longer than normal to read, it just didn’t hold my attention like some other books do. That being said, it’s worth picking up and trying something a little different!

Thank you to Sulari Gentill, NetGalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think if I read this at a different time/different head space I would have enjoyed this a lot more. It’s a very meta book, a murder on the Orient Express talking about the book Murder On The Orient Express. (Which I still haven’t read because it was spoiled for me and this was how I realized I no longer remember the spoiler)

The book was slow at times and I think could of improved upon pacing with maybe multiple perspectives. There’s a large cast of characters and only one narrator. The twists/conclusion was surprising and done well.

It's no secret that I have a weak spot for locked room mysteries... It's probably one of my favorite tropes, so it's easy to understand why I wanted to read Five Found Dead as soon as I heard about it. Then I saw it was set aboard the famous Orient Express with references to some of the most famous classics, and there was no way that I was going to be able to resist reading it. I do have to say that I ended up being a bit on the fence about Five Found Dead instead of finding a new favorite though.

Don't get me wrong, the premise is without doubt fantastic and I loved that both this book and one of the characters in play (Joe) want to put a twist of some of the famous Orient Express stories out there. The train setting is hands down one of my favorite parts of the story; that and the Agatha Christie feel of the murders and some of the characters. That said, things ended up being WAY over the top to be actually credible, and I think that Hercule Poirot would turn in his grave if he saw the sloppy investigation techniques being used.

I think that part of where Five Found Dead ended up losing me had everything to do with the enormous cast of characters. I get why we have to have a big cast of potential suspects and victims for this locked room mystery to work, but it was almost impossible to keep them all apart and quite a few of them were considerably one-dimensional and cliche. Add the fact that there were plenty of stupid decisions and shoddy investigation moments to endure, and hanging out with our narrator Meredith could get quite frustrating.

I also can't say that I was a fan of the big focus on COVID in the plot. I get why the author incorporated it into the plot to add another twist and make certain things happen, but it's not a topic I enjoy reading about and there were way too many pandemic references to my taste. I would honestly have much preferred a different reason for the train to fail to reach its destination... But this might just be a personal pet peeve.

Like I said before, I did enjoy the bookish elements in the plot... Both the references and the fact that one of the main characters is an author. I also can't deny that Five Found Dead was a quick and mostly fun read. Sure, certain twists were predictable while others were so over the top that they were completely ridiculous, but if you look past the credibility the plot can be quite entertaining. Certain parts were just too much though, and my eyebrows ended up having quite a workout along the way.

In the end, there were things I loved about Five Found Dead, while other elements didn't work all that well for me. It's still a quick and entertaining read if you can look past the fact that a lot about the plot just doesn't make sense... Just make sure to be prepared to suspend your disbelief and have a notebook ready to keep track of all those characters in play.

How many people can die on one train? Who can figure out the murderer?

Crime fiction author, Joe, and his twin sister, Meredith, board the famed Orient Express for a train ride of a lifetime after successfully beating cancer. Hoping to get inspiration for his next book, they get way more than what they bargained for.

Well-written but often hard to follow for this American girl with the different phrases and languages thrown in. Lots of googling while reading done on my part.

I didn't believe anything i just read but somehow i still was entertained enough to finish it.

This was pure fiction - like not ordinary fiction where something is plausible but you just know it won't happen to you. No, this was something that won't even happen in books. But in a fun way.

I think most of detective readers have heard about Orient express (if you haven't then maybe you should grow a little, kid) and this train was a great setting for all the things that happened. Yes, we get a lot of mentions of Agatha Cristie and her famous detective, we have praise for some TV adaptations and all the atmosphere really made me imagine the Orient Express as somehting still glorious.
But none of this could ever happen in real life and i missed this - i missed the possibility of it.

Standing ovations for a secret of what happened to the passenger in 16G (reading the author's note really gave the insight how she cams up with this part of the story).

Overall this was a fast read and somewhat nostalgic.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

In the novel Five Found Dead, we follow novelist Joe Penvale and his sister Meredith onto the famous or is it infamous Orient Express. Joe happens to be a mystery writer who is recovering from cancer and is looking to find his muse again. And what better place than the Orient Express. This novel was a bit dry and the characters took a while to get comfortable with. But all in all it’s a readable book with great adventure.

Five Found Dead was a fast paced ride. Joe is a fiction writer and there's nothing he loves more than a good mystery. He's newly recovered from his medical issues so he takes a trip on the Orient Express with his sister, Meredith. Could this trip be exactly what Joe needs to start writing again? Seems possible when they wake up the next day and discovered a cabin covered in blood. The bodies start to pile up while Joe and Meredith fight to stay alive and solve this crime. I really enjoyed this story, it was a quick easy read that left guessing till the end.

This was a fun murder mystery on the infamous orient express. While the plot was enjoyable, I had a hard time picking up the book once I put it down. I found myself getting distracted by the Covid references and thought that was a slightly weird plot line.

Fun read just not memorable

I really enjoyed this! Sulari's writting style just keeps me engaged and wanting more.
The characters were all lovable and slightly sketchy so I suspected most of them at one point.

Absolutely loved this book, a gripping thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. I would definitely read more books from this author

So, this was just not my cup of tea. I really enjoyed her The Woman in the Library, so I've read her last two books, but neither has really worked for me.

In this, brother and sister, Joe and Meri Penvale, have decided to take a trip on the Oriental Express to celebrate Joe's cancer being in remission.

Joe is a mystery writer and Meri is a lawyer, and both are looking forward to the luxury and the history of mystery associated with the train.

Soon, they are in the middle of their own crisis and mystery: two of the carriages are quarantined due to testing positive for coronavirus and the cabin next-door to their own is found empty but covered with blood.

Sounds great, right?

It's just not. It's incredibly repetitive, right down to the very last section which repeats almost the entire mystery, again, without revealing anything new.

11 detective characters are introduced, who are brought together to help solve the missing person mystery, but most of them blend together and contribute little to the story, except repeating theories.

2/3rds through the book, a potential stalker for our main character is introduced. This is a character that has not been mentioned at all throughout the rest of the book. Sigh.

It's just all a bit of a mess. The dialogue is stiff, the story is a good idea, but poorly executed, and the characters just aren't that interesting.

It gets two stars from me because I enjoyed the final reveal of whodunnit.

All in all, just not for me, and I probably won't pick up further books by Gentill.

*violence, rare language

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the early release ebook. All opinions are my own.

While the premise of this book was intriguing, that is where it ended. The story itself was confusing with many different characters. This was all told from a single point of view which made it hard to follow. It was painfully slow at times but the twist at the end did redeem it somewhat,

This is a murder mystery set in the Orient Express . It gave me Agatha Christie vibes. An easy read murder mystery. Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for ARC.

Five Found Dead is a murder mystery set on the Orient Express, where crime writer Joe Penvale and his sister Meredith find themselves caught up in a series of murders after a passenger disappears, leaving behind a blood-soaked cabin. The story, reminiscent of Agatha Christie, follows Joe and Meredith as they investigate alongside a group of fellow passengers with law enforcement backgrounds, all while dealing with the added layer of a COVID-19 outbreak that restricts the train's movement.

The story is very atmospheric and descriptive , takes place during COVID on the Orient Express. It’s a locked room mystery thriller played out like a murder mystery. While the premise of this book is what caught my eye I felt this was a let down. I was left feeling like I have no idea what’s going on or why people are dying with no clues or anything to grasp at who the killer could be and the middle seemed to drag on. The characters were just fine and the big reveal wasn’t really that shocking and the reasoning why the killer was killing was just odd to me….

“It’s all a little surreal. Like we are in a bubble removed from the world though we can see it from the glamorous mobile prison into which we have been incarcerated with a murder and disease.”

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publication Date: August 19, 2025

I love a good mystery, but I really struggled to connect with this one. I first think I struggled with the other languages being used and as an American I struggled to understand. I also didn’t connect with any characters which makes it hard for me to stay connected. The amount of characters was simply too many and had me confused on who was who at times. Ultimately I was going to give it 1 star but bumped it to 2 since I didn’t guess who did it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the free arc in exchange for a honest review.

I loved Sulari Gentill's metacrime novels "The Woman in the Library" and "After She Wrote Him" and was really looking forward to this. However, it is very different in style, tone and plot. It is essentially a cozy mystery, openly paying homage to Agatha Christie and especially "Murder on the Orient Express." I was on board with this, so to speak, and enjoyed the first quarter enormously. Gentill brilliantly evokes the feeling of being on the famous train, and the memories of all its literary associations. Our first-person narrator and her brother are interesting and likeable characters. I had high hopes going forward. However, as events on the train begin to go wrong, so, in my opinion, did the book. The plot seemed more and more aimless and the characters became more and more ridiculous. I think there is some tone confusion here. The book couldn't seem to make up its mind whether it was a cozy, a thriller or a comedy/satire, and so it didn't do any of these genres well. By the end, I didn't care who had done it, and the "surprise twist" just fell flat for me. It comes out of nowhere and we are not able to put together any clues to arrive at the solution ourselves. It isn't a terrible book, but it fell short of my expectations. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was such a fun ride (see what I did there lol) of a book. The were parts that had me laughing and I enjoyed every second! This was just a witty and cozy book. A modern-day Murder of the Orient Express that was warm and inviting!!! I loved it!

This was okay. The writing style was very much giving the Poirot series by Agatha Christie, which I read the first book of and hated, so that one’s probably on me <3

The title of “Five Found Dead” itself is a spoiler of sorts which I didn’t love. The 3rd/4th person isn’t found until 60% into the book, and then the 4th/5th person isn’t found until 77% into the book. It definitely would’ve been more of a shock factor if we didn’t already know it was coming with the title.

Also, I did unfortunately see the “twist” coming that Frank was the man from 16G. They called the man from 16G very clumsy not very long after talking about how clumsy Frank was. I fear that one was pretty obvious unfortunately.

I also wish some of the names would’ve been different? There were a couple names that were very similar so it was hard for me to keep all of the characters separate, especially since they all had the sameish jobs.

Overall I don’t think this was a bad book. I could definitely see why people would like this, I just wasn’t the biggest fan.

smart, funny and a great time of a read. page by page and chapter by chapter i was intrigued and couldn't wait to see what this author would hand us next.im not sure if i was meant to find this so comical but i did!
the detective work in this book actually felt a bit like you might just see from mere mortals lol. totally wacky and completely ridiculous. Meri and Joe wouldn't be hired by our best detectives i dont think. but they make a great read as they try to figure it all out.
this book is definitely a romp that you'd get if you ask random passengers on a train to solve a murder and i was here for it. i had a great time reading this book and would find myself smiling in random place throughout, it was almost like being in the middle of a family game of cludo!