Sulari Gentill’s Five Found Dead is a refreshing take on the classic mystery novel, offering readers a story that feels both familiar in structure and yet strikingly original in execution. Gentill masterfully plays with the traditional framework of a whodunit while layering in modern sensibilities and complex character dynamics that keep the narrative engaging from start to finish.

At its heart, the novel thrives on its characters. Each one is crafted with enough uniqueness and intrigue that they never feel like stock figures from a typical mystery setup. Instead, they come alive on the page, making you want to dig deeper into their personalities, motivations, and secrets. This focus on characterization ensures that readers remain invested not only in solving the mystery but also in understanding the people at the center of it.

The storyline itself is well-paced and compelling, offering the right mix of suspense, tension, and atmosphere. Gentill’s descriptive prose heightens each scene, creating vivid images that anchor the reader firmly in the setting while maintaining the creeping unease that defines the best mysteries. The attention to detail enriches the reading experience, allowing the suspense to build organically rather than relying solely on shocking twists.

What makes Five Found Dead stand out is how it manages to honor the tradition of classic mysteries without feeling like a retread. Gentill injects originality into the narrative through her distinctive voice and her ability to weave in fresh angles and nuanced perspectives. The result is a novel that feels both timeless and innovative, appealing to fans of traditional mystery as well as readers looking for something new.

Overall, Five Found Dead is a clever, atmospheric, and thoroughly enjoyable read. With its strong character work, vivid writing, and inventive approach to a beloved genre, Sulari Gentill has delivered a mystery that lingers long after the final page.

Such a lively book!! Joe, having gone through gruelling cancer treatment, is travelling on the Orient Express with his sister, Meredith. They meet an eclectic group of fellow travellers. Naturally there is murder galore and lots of red herrings until the murderer is revealed. Very enjoyable!

As a long-time Agatha Christie fan, I knew I had to read this modern-day nod to "Murder on the Orient Express," but I had reservations about Sulari Gentill's ability to deliver a novel that was anything close to the original. I'm happy to report that my reservations were unfounded. I loved this book. It was far enough withdrawn and different from the original that it still felt like an authentic work, but there were also several similarities that gave me that Christie-esque feeling that I really wanted.

Twins Joe and Meredith have booked tickets on the Orient Express as a celebration of sorts. Joe's cancer is in remission, and he and his sister can finally get back to their pre-diagnosis lives. Maybe he'll even write another bestselling mystery. However, truth becomes stranger than the fiction it mimics when the cabin next to theirs becomes a real-life crime scene. As the bodies pile up, Joe and Meredith must work together with several other passengers to find the all-to-real murderer on the fictionally-famous Orient Express.

I loved the set up for this story. The quirky cast of characters, the familiar train, the dynamics between the travelers; it was all wonderful. When we got to the end and found out the "whodunnit," I was pleasantly surprised. Like the original, I definitely did not solve this one in advance and found out right along with the characters in the book. This was such a nostalgic read with all the feels of a classic crime novel while still being completely present in its modern-day timeline. I would highly recommend it to classic mystery fans as well as those new to the genre who want to get their feet wet with something that bridges the gap between the modern and the timeless. Go read this one! You won't be disappointed.

Five Found Dead is a wild, fast-moving ride that feels like a modern revamp of Murder on the Orient Express. The pacing is absolutely chaotic in a good way and sometimes in a “wait, what just happened?” way. The cast of characters bring in plenty of humor, which balances out the darker premise of death on a train. While the story could feel a little all over the place, it never stops being entertaining. It’s one of those books that keeps you guessing and laughing at the same time. I really enjoyed the mix of murder mystery with comic relief, and although it wasn’t always perfectly executed, it was a fun and engaging read.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC

Sulari Gentill’s latest play on the mystery genre, Five Found Dead is a good entertaining read with plenty of twists.

When Meredith Penvale and her writer brother, Joe, step aboard the iconic Orient Express, they’re embarking on a journey steeped in both luxury and mystery. The train, a literary legend, is a bucket-list destination for detectives and writers alike. But as the train winds through the Italian Alps, a sinister undercurrent begins to emerge. A virus has infiltrated the train in Paris, trapping its passengers and cutting them off from the world. Then, a passenger vanishes, leaving their cabin a bloody crime scene. Suddenly, the idyllic journey turns deadly. Joe and Meredith find themselves trapped with a motley crew of detectives, each with their own secrets and agendas.

Drawing on Agatha Christie’s classic Murder On The Orient Express, and a host of other classic mystery novels, Five Found Dead is a fun read that will delight crime readers. Apart from Meredith and Joe, and a pair of Australian crime podcasters, most of the characters, especially the detectives, will be familiar to fans of detective fiction. The story moves along at a good pace and there are plenty of clues, red herrings, twists and knowing winks to the reader. It is also given some substance by Sulari’s own personal experiences. Part homage and part general mystery, Five Found Dead is an enjoyable meta crime novel with a good finale.

I largely read Five Found Dead while on my own train trips around Europe (but not the Orient Express) and thought it was good fun.

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill kept me hooked... It had everything that I was hoping for in the mystery element. Sulari has a great writing style and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
I finished it within a few days. It's so readable and engaging, and very well-written.

Thank You NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This was a promising concept. I enjoyed the beginning. There were too many characters to keep track of as the story progressed. This is the first I’ve read by this author. I would definitely give the author another try.

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill  is a murder mystery set on the famous Orient Express, but in modern days.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Poisoned Pen Press and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 

My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Joe Penvale is recovering from a rough cancer.  His twin sister Meredith, has been by his side for the whole ordeal, putting her life on hold while they fought this awful disease.  Meredith decided that they should celebrate the ending of his treatments with something truly spectacular.

As Joe is a crime fiction author, she thought that the Orient Express may rejuvenate both his health and his writing career.  And within moments of boarding the historic train, Joe opened his laptop and started writing.

Their first evening was spent getting to know some of their fellow passengers, including two true-crime podcasters who have known Joe for a while.

The next morning, Joe and Meredith awake to find the cabin next door has become a crime scene, without the body.  Plenty of blood though.  Since there is no official police on board the pair are asked to join a group of fellow travelers who all have some area of law enforcement background.  They will be tasked to find the missing body, as well as the murderer.  As a lawyer, Meredith is to make sure everything is done properly.  Joe just tags along.

But then the steward who was guarding the crime scene is murdered.  He won't be the last.

A COVID outbreak throws the whole train into chaos.

 

My Opinions:
Well, I admit to being a little leery about a new crime scene on the legendary Orient Express.  I should have realized that this author could take on the Christie train, and add some fun to it!  The plot took this historic locked-room mystery up a level (I can barely believe I am saying that).  Adding COVID to the mix was genius!

Except for the final podcast episodes, the entire story was told from Meredith's perspective, and nothing was missed..

The characters were amazing, and a couple that were too good to be true proved the saying.  My favorite characters were definitely Joe, Meredith, and Napoleon.   Flex & Herds drove me nuts.

Yes, you have to take a few things with a grain of salt (or more), but it is fiction, so while some things were rather over-the-top,  I just found it more enjoyable.  The outrageous things made the whole story more fun.  Let's face it, if you are going to try to replicate Agatha Christie's book, you aren't going succeed without adding a little extra "something"

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book, and can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Revisiting the Orient Express during covid...
The premise was interesting, and I've really enjoyed the author's previous novels. This one wasn't my favorite; however, the plot was intriguing.

Five Found Dead is the fourth stand-alone novel by award-wining, best-selling Australian author, Sulari Gentill. Meredith Penvale had put her career as a corporate lawyer on hold to support her twin brother, Joe through his cancer journey. Now with the all-clear, they are celebrating with a trip on the Orient Express, Paris to Istanbul. Meri is hoping it will spark the muse, worryingly absent during the cancer treatment, that helped Joe hit the best-seller list with his first crime novel.

Joe tells her that he can feel the presence of Christie, Hitchcock and co on the train, and she’s pleased to see him tapping away on his laptop already. While they don’t have a rotund Belgian detective for company at dinner, they do get an attractive retired French gendarme and a Jamaican-born Novocastrian policewoman on vacation, and they have fun speculating about their fellow travellers. The Orient Express is everything they dreamed of.

The next morning, things are different: the cabin next door to Joe and Meri’s is thoroughly blood-splattered, but there’s no sign of the body of the unfriendly man they encountered going in the night before. The train manager places a steward on guard at the cabin’s door, but too soon, the man is absent, only to be found later, stabbed to death.

At which point, the manager gathers together passengers (as you do) with a background in police work, the law, or a connection with the elusive passenger. There’s a surprising number of them, and he reasons that surely this wide knowledge base will be able to prevent further deaths. Think again! Meri is included for her legal expertise, irrelevant though it may be, and Joe is included by default: she’s not leaving him behind alone. They deduce, he sits in the middle and turns it into a novel.

Passengers (an entitled bunch) are none too pleased to be confined to cabins. And just to add another twist, the last two passengers on at Gare de l’Est test positive for a highly virulent strain of COVID; OE management quarantines the end two carriages, and outside communications are disabled. What else can go wrong?

What a wonderfully quirky cast of characters! Law enforcement officers, past and present, from a wide variety of jurisdictions, many of whom seem to know something of the missing passenger; two Australian podcasters well known to Joe and Meri; a Duchess and her tame Chicago cop; a pair of Miss Marple-like old women; a finance guy and his travel-writer wife; a Russian gangster; and a woman who might be stalking Joe.

It’s easy to see that the author had a lot of fun with this, and also called on some personal experience, all to good effect. There are clues and distractions and red herrings, enough to keep the reader guessing and the pages turning right up to the reveal. Tongue-in-cheek hilarious!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press.

A luxury train ride goes wrong for two siblings when people start to get murdered. Trying to stay out of the way, but also being put in charge of the case, the two siblings try to decipher the crime scenes to determine which rider did it.

A trip on the Orient Express seems like the perfect holiday for a mystery writer, until people actually start dying. Joe Penvale and his twin, Meredith, are dragged into a case that seems both surreal and horribly real. Amongst the wildly varied group of passengers, they discover a large number of professional sleuths. Coincidence?

Sulari Gentill's mysteries never disappoint! She blends the intrigue and romance of the Orient Expresses literary history with the modern time and creates a new masterpiece full of unexpected surprises. I loved the twins' dynamic and the very modern cast of characters. As an avid Agatha Christie fan, I also really appreciated the nods to Hercule Poirot's Orient Express journey as well as a number of other famous mysteries with similar settings. Highly recommend!

The premise of an investigation with fellow passengers, all with unique backgrounds was a nostalgic call-back to the golden age of detective stories which I really missed.

On one hand, the book’s setting was a genuine treat. The claustrophobic, elegant atmosphere of the train was well-rendered and the initial crime: a bloody scene with no body created a fantastic hook. Joe and Meredith were an amiable pair and the idea of them using their literary and life skills to solve a real-life mystery was a fun twist on the classic detective duo. The plot kept things moving with a series of escalating murders that kept you wondering who was next.

However, despite all its clever nods to a beloved genre, the book struggled to truly make the characters feel distinct. The ensemble cast of fellow passengers while introduced with intriguing backgrounds often blurred together, making it difficult to keep track of everyone or feel invested in their fates. The "whodunit" reveal, while it made sense lacked the kind of shocking, perfectly-clued twist that makes an Agatha Christie novel so memorable. It felt more like a well-structured puzzle than a truly surprising mystery.

Overall, it was a decent quick read.

(Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own)

Ridiculous in the Best Way Possible

Five Found Dead was my first book by Sulari Gentill, and it definitely will not be my last. I am already planning to look into her other works. This story is filled with a kind of ridiculousness that works in its favor, keeping me turning the pages because I had to know what would happen next. It is also a clever retelling of Murder on the Orient Express, with the author adding a playful and self-aware twist while bringing the setting of the Orient Express vividly to life.

At times the large cast of characters felt overwhelming, and certain plot points required a little too much suspension of belief. Even so, the mix of suspense, humor, and homage made this a very entertaining read. Overall, Five Found Dead is an outrageous and engaging mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it was a strong enough introduction to Sulari Gentill’s writing that I will certainly be reading more from her in the future.

When crime novelist Joe Penvale boards the luxurious Orient Express seeking recovery and inspiration, he definitely doesn't expect murder. But when a passenger vanishes from a blood-soaked, locked cabin, and a deadly virus outbreak forces the train into quarantine, Joe and his twin sister Meredith realize that they are trapped with a killer. As the bodies begin to pile up and paranoia spreads, the siblings must untangle the mystery before the train reaches it's final stop... or before they become the next victims.

Five Found Dead starts off with a bang! A locked room mystery aboard the Orient Express during a pandemic? Sounds promising! Gentill blends classic Agatha Christie vibes with contemporary tension. Joe and his sister Meredith make for engaging main characters and the claustrophobic atmosphere is a strong highlight. However the execution doesn't quite match the premise in my opinion. The plot drags a bit in the middle and there are a bunch of characters to keep track of. Also the mystery's resolution felt a tad underwhelming. All that said, it's still an enjoyable read and if you like locked room puzzles or thrillers set on a train give this one a shot!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sulari Gentill, and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC!! Publication date is August 19th, 2025.

Murder on the Orient Express has to be one of the most famous mysteries out there and Sulari Gentill takes on the daunting task of setting another murder--not just one but five-- mystery on that most famous of trains. Set in the time period after the worst of the Covid pandemic, twins, Joe and Meredith, travel on the Orient Express in hopes it will inspire Joe to write his next book. Along the way they meet a number of law enforcement professionals on the train, who seem to be following a known fraudster who they think is on the train, who just happens to disappear from a cabin splashed all over with blood. And then the bodies start to fall. It isn't a snowstorm that isolates the train this time but a feared virulent outbreak of Covid that keeps it quarantined. Will it be a murderer or illness that gets our intrepid duo?

A fun mystery that has meta about train mysteries, particularly of course Agatha Christie's classic but others are referenced as well. But most importantly this stands on its own with interesting characters, plenty of suspects, red herrings and a surprise ending. What more could you want with a murder mystery on a train, especially on the most classic of them all.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

This story had a bit of an old timey feel being on the Orient Express, but during present times, which was kind of enjoyable. The characters were hard to keep track of at times, there were a lot. I liked the misleading clues and finding out who the real killer was. Pretty far fetched, but fun to read!

Thank you, NetGalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

his homage to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express also takes place on the train of that name, where not one but several people are murdered. When writer Joe and his sister, Meredith, take a trip on the train to celebrate his cancer remission, they are pulled into a mystery when the man in the cabin next to them goes missing and may be dead, and several other people are murdered.

The knowledge that the author experienced her own cancer journey, similar to the character's, adds poignancy to the story, and even more so to the character. The character's cancer experience actually plays a surprisingly important and unique role in solving the mystery

Unlike Christie's story, wherein the train was populated by numerous compelling suspects, in this case, the story (and the train) is populated with a plethora of characters associated with law enforcement. This makes the story even more exciting and unpredictable. However, it is hard to keep some of the characters straight or to differentiate them at times.

Still, the story remains interesting throughout. Plus, there are some intriguing twists and turns along the way. However, not everything about the ending is satisfactory. Some things don't feel like they are explained enough, and others leave you wanting to know more. There is a whole other mystery wrapped up in the solution that could be its own book.

FIVE FOUND DEAD was so implausible and yet tremendously entertaining and amusing! A train cabin bathed in blood without a body in sight. Joe, a writer, and his twin sister, Meredith, were asked to investigate the mysterious disappearance. An additional five confirmed murders, passengers trapped on a moving train with a killer, with no way of escaping. Is the mystery of the missing man related to the murders?

This is a masterfully executed, multi-layered narrative with a wonderfully quirky cast of characters that grips, chills, and makes you laugh out loud. It is clear that the author had a great deal of fun writing this book. This book is perfect for fans of cleverly crafted locked-room mysteries and well-developed unreliable characters.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. My thanks also go to Sulari Gentill for this thrilling read. As a fan of her books, I eagerly await what inventive mystery she'll craft next!

A fun take on the Christie classic, Murder on the Orient Express. Taking place on the said train, siblings Joe and Meredith find themselves in the middle of a real-life locked room murder mystery. There's one big problem though, the body is missing!

This was a fun locked room mystery with a very overt wink at the Agatha Christie novel. I find Gentill's novels fun to read and have yet to be disappointed. This was probably the most straightforward book of hers that I've read, but nonetheless, still enjoyable.

This is a quick read that is fun for any mystery fans. 4.5/5 stars