This was a fun Murder on the Orient Express inspired mystery. While some of the twists were predictable the pacing excellent, I was thoroughly charmed by the main characters, twins Joe and Meredith, and love the (extensive) cast of secondary characters.

I've read several of Gentill's other books and found the tone of Five Found Dead to be much lighter and more tongue in cheek However, the mystery and suspense of whodunnit are still strong.

The story follows [Protagonist's Name], a compelling lead with a dark past and a relentless drive for the truth. As they navigate a web of deception, betrayals, and high-stakes danger, the book delivers nail-biting suspense at every turn. The pacing is expertly crafted, maintaining a balance between action-packed sequences and moments of psychological depth that reveal the characters’ motivations and fears.

Let us start by putting this where it belongs in the cosy mystery genre, not in the least thriller vibes.

Five Found Dead follows crime author Joe and his twin sister Meredith Penvale as they board the Orient Express, a trip meant to mark Joe’s recovery from cancer. However, their holiday takes a sinister turn when a murder occurs, pulling them into a joint investigation with a group of other passengers who are miraculously connected to law enforcement.
A vast array of characters and there are a lot of them, will keep you entertained.
Go into this with the mindset of a short holiday/airport read and you will have a good time. When I say short, short by my standards. A few hours of light reading goes in the short category.
This is my first experience with writing from this author, I enjoyed the book enough that I would check out other novels.

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me the ebook ARC of this book

Such a great book. Thank you for letting me read it in advance. I can't wait to see what else this author has to offer.

The concept of this novel wag great! And I loved the execution. Phenomenal writing style. I couldn’t put it down.

I quite thoroughly enjoyed this book. Five Found Dead is an excellent homage to train mysteries, both written and filmed. Christie and Hitchcock are name dropped in the book and I think they would have been proud. It is a fine entry into that niche. The reader is first introduced to the main players, a likable pair of twins, Joe Penvale, a crime writer and cancer survivor (that’s important), and his sister Meredith, a lawyer and brother supporter. They are embarking on the famed Orient Express as a celebration of health and to restart Joe’s creative fire.

As the other players are introduced it becomes obvious that there are more than the usual number of passengers involved in law enforcement. When, in a locked cabin, evidence of a murder minus a body is discovered the various passengers with experience in crime, including Joe who is pulled in with his sister, are asked to form a task force to examine what has happened until they get to Venice. Over the course of two and a half days there are many alarums and excursions with the needed twists, red herrings, surprise reveals, and, of course five bodies. The characters are involving, the plot compelling, and the pacing brisk, yet there is still the lightness and sense of the past, Joe calls them ghosts, that is the heart of a golden age mystery set on the Orient Express.

I’ll admit it—I was completely sold by the cover. A murder mystery on a train? Say no more. And the fact that it takes place on the legendary Orient Express? Even better! (One day, I will take that train myself.)

Right from the start, it’s obvious that Five Found Dead is heavily inspired by Murder on the Orient Express. There’s a diverse cast of characters, all banding together to solve the mystery, and even a French former detective who feels very much like a nod to Poirot. Some of the events are a little over-the-top, but honestly? I didn’t care. I flew through the pages, eager to find out what happened next.

The characters were engaging, though there were a lot of them. A character list at the beginning would have been helpful! But each one brought something unique to the story, making for an entertaining ensemble.

As for the ending—without giving anything away—I didn’t find it particularly surprising or satisfying. It mostly rehashed things we already knew, rather than adding a fresh twist.

Still, while it’s not the best murder mystery out there, it’s also far from bad. It’s simply a really fun read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This slow burn mystery follows twins Joe and Meredith Penvale as they take a ride on the Orient Express.

There are so many characters to follow I’m not even sure my count is accurate. While tidbits of conversations are mildly entertaining here and there, the story is incredibly slow moving.

So much of this story seems implausible, to the point I’m left wondering if it was intended as a satire. I’m really not sure.

I had the bad actor(s) figured out early on, hanging in for the sake of it being an advanced reader copy and to see if I guessed right.

With thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Pressed for the advance digital copy.

I love Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot, in particular so when I was given the opportunity to read a closed room mystery set on the Orient Express about a murder...or five I was down!

I was intrigued from Page One, Joe and Meri have intriguing and pithy dialogue and their interactions with the other guests are fun and engaging. The plotting was great and while you will have to suspend disbelief a wee bit you won't mind at all...this book is great fun!

This was a great locked room mystery story. It gave me such strong Agatha Christie vibes that I was immediately captivated by the book. It had me hooked from the moment I started it until I finished it. I received an advanced copy of this book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery book.

*Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

As a huge Agatha Christie fan, this was a delightful premise. An excursion on The Orient Express quickly begins to parallel the Christie novel as passengers start dropping dead. I was hooked from the beginning, though things did drag a bit in the middle. I never tried to solve the crime and really just was along for the ride. This book had SO many subplots that an outside observer wouldn't guess from the get-go (though maybe it could've done with one less). Plus the last chapter took me out of the story a bit, but I'm still sold on Sulari Gentill's intricate plots and premises.

A fast paced who dunnit with shades Agatha all through out the book. The atmosphere was elegant and creepy at the same time.

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill is the latest standalone from the Aussie author whose literary-themed novels I'm very much enjoying. This book is a bit of a cross between Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone on this Train is a Suspect - in that there are many potential (highly qualified) suspects on the train in question... most of them involved in law enforcement in some way; and Agatha Christie's good ol' Murder on the Orient Express... as this IS set on the Orient Express and therefore the quintessential locked room mystery as no one can get off or on. Without giving away too much Gentill also borrows from another of Christie's other novels*... to achieve the aforementioned locked room (or even more extreme) locked CARRIAGE mystery.

I've only got this electronically so my mum won't get to read it but I know she'd comment on the number of characters and her difficulty in remembering who's who. Gentill does introduce a lot of players but the ones who stick in our minds are those who need to.

Meredith is our narrator here, sister of successful debut author Joe who's recently cancer-free after treatment. The pair wonder at the sheer number of experienced investigators on the train. Perhaps because [the Orient Express itself is] popular with those with a penchant for crime solving and criminal minds, or perhaps it's something less coincidental and they've all been drawn to take this particular train on this particular day for a reason.

The investigators are brought together by the train's manager who believes they're well placed to locate the first victim (a swindler and thief who boarded using one his many pseudonyms), assumed dead given the amount of blood left in his train carriage.

Those on the killer's trail—a mix of former spies, police officers, private investigators, Meredith (a lawyer) and two fluffy old sisters who were swindled by the hustler—are given the freedom to examine evidence and bring their collective abilities and experience to the investigation... but not before more bodies start mounting up.

Gentill sets this against a backdrop of Covid fears, referencing new strains which prevent the train from stopping in order to allow an investigation and search for the victim. So there's certainly a time imperative and Gentill keeps the pace by continuing to lift the body count and throwing in many 'reveals' and motives amongst those present.

I very much liked Meredith and Joe (so was firmly in their corner) and, as usual, loved the literary themes - with Joe finding inspiration from the events on the train as well as a reminder that life is short and it's best lived in the moment. As an aside, I did wonder at one point if Meredith was going to discover she was taking part in a game and the trip was an elaborate travel adventure experience or a moving escape room featuring talented actors playing the victims and perpetrator. A great and highly recommended read!

* I'm a fan of her work but cannot recall in which book this sleight of hand appeared. (Cannot say more cos #spoilers)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc

While I love Murder on the Orient Express there's a few books circulating with the same vibes so it's hard to read when you're sort of comparing them all. I did enjoy the beginning of this book but found myself weaning in the middle and by the end I felt it was an okay read.

If you read the book as a satire on murder mystery it’s a fun and entertaining read. I started it expecting a certain mood but it quickly turned and I enjoyed it in the same way I would enjoy movies like Airplane and Scary Movie.

It was fun once you just relax and enjoy all the ridiculous things that happen.

Thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was an orient express mystery but felt kinda heavy for the genre. The covid plot felt too soon to much given the current atmosphere. At times the story really dragged for me. I liked the setting of the train, but none of the characters were strong enough to stand out

Five Found Dead is the first novel by author Sulari Gentill that I have read.. I will definitely be reading more of her work. I absolutely enjoyed Five Found Dead, a novel that employs Agatha Christie history in creating a novel about a murder mystery on the Orient Express. The descriptions of the Orient Express do match the reality. I looked for photos of the rooms and was quite taken with Gentill's descriptions of life on this train. There is a murder quite quickly, and then a succession of murders. The plotting is well done and the action moves along briskly. The central protagonists--Joe, Meredith, and Napoleon, as well as several other characters, provide meaning and interest, as they seek to solve the murders. Five Found Dead would make a terrific movie. These characters have depth and backgrounds that adds meaning to the action. It is easy for readers to cheer them on. There are a lot of suspects and several red herrings. I was able to identify the killer about half way through. But that did not disappoint me. Five Found Dead. lays out the clues very carefully and unwrapping them was a lot of fun.

I bet readers will badly want to take a trip on the Orient Express after reading Five Found Dead. I know I would love to take this trip. It sounds weird to say I really enjoyed this novel, since there were so many murders, but that is the truth. This novel was a wonderful read. Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Mystery lovers will find Five Found Dead a rewarding experience reading.

5 Stars

Five Found Dead was an interesting locked room (if you may) mystery set in the Orient Express. Overall, it was quite fun, with the atmosphere and the setting very easy to imagine, however, many of the plot twists were too predictable for me and didn't deliver the expected shock factor the way they were intended too. However, it was a nice quick read, and if you enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express, you might enjoy this book as well.

This is a tricky book to review and I appreciate the opportunity to! I wanted to love it and I did….at first. And then, it wore on me, BUT it’s obviously a very personal book and so, it seems wrong to critique it negatively and I hope I’m doing so fairly so readers can decide if it’s for them. I’m bumping this to a 4 because I think it deserves to be read and will do well, although for me personally it was more 3.5-ish.

Without spoiling anything I really liked these aspects of the story:

1) The protagonists are Joe and Meredith, fraternal twins traveling together on a ‘bucket-list’ type experience to mark Joe’s remission from cancer. Their adult sibling dynamic and bond was unique and felt very authentic — they love and drive each other crazy in equal measure, just as real siiblings do, at least in my experience. Joe is a mystery writer whose first book had breakout success; Meredith is (or was) a corporate lawyer turned caretaker for her brother, who is considering a career pivot.

2) There is a lot of reflectiveness about those who have cancer (or care for someone with it) and how that impacts their priorities, relationships, and life choices. It’s unusually thoughtful both in general and in this genre, and it gives the book some gravitas it wouldn’t otherwise have while being relatable to anyone who’s been in - or near - that experience. Cancer - both literal and figurative (like in a decay of morality/ethics sense) is the real antagonist of this book. Put another way, this book has some surprising depth to it, even though it can be readily enjoyed at a surface level.

4) The setting is a cross-continental train trip on the storied Orient Express, no less. The description of that experience through the eyes of the character first timers is a lot of fun to experience vicarously. The book pays homage to Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and isn’t shy about it; in fact, many of the travelers take the trip for that very reason. This is essentially a locked-room mystery in the best possible setting for it.

5) The side characters are like the characters in Clue. Very quirky and European in their own right, many of them with ties somehow to crime or law enforcement. Without spoiling, there’s a Duchess, retired police officer. pair of podcasters, and octogenarian bounty hunters in the mix.

4) It’s an easy read and very well-written. The supporting characters are well-developed, unique, and additive to the story. I could easily see this being cast and filmed for a Netflix movie and it’d be terrific on a big or small screen. There were several times I played a casting exercise in my head.

5) I think a lot of readers will enjoy this book. It’s slightly darker than a cozy mystery, but not graphic enough to be a turnoff. It’s not particularly suspenseful or propulsive, but there is a clear, nonambiguous ending and these characters could absolutely live on in future books.

Those strengths listed first, here’s what didn’t work for me personally:

1) The COVID sub plot with the extremely contagious and dangerous “French” variant. I get why it’s included. It raises the stakes for everyone in close quarters on the train, and those who are elderly and/or have compromised immune systems specifically. Plus, it’s intended to be a potential murderer of a different sort, a silent killer lurking within their fellow passengers even as they fear the literal murderer in their midst. For me, it worked better as an unnamed, highly contagious virus. Given our shared recent past, COVID came immediately to mind as an association and/but not naming it almost made it more of a threat. As soon as it became COVID-specific and that became a ‘high-stakes’ plot point the passengers/characters were constantly reacting to, it felt, I don’t know, exhausting or too-something….a definite turnoff even though I continued reading.

2) This book is meant to be excessive and over-the-top, sort of a locked-room mystery + Murder on the Orient Express + Clue mashup. The plot, the setting, the characters are all very much over the top - like wearing too much costume jewelry, but in a fun way. Even teeing up Joe’s recent victory over his cancer battle set the tone for a vibrant adventure/mystery romp of sorts. But, then. The numerous times the train is surrounded by police and guns who were fearful of the train bringing infected people into their borders, the constant sister-fretting over her brother’s health….all understandable, but also not entertaining. The fusion of the serious and reflective into a clownish/over-the-top plot didn’t quite work for me. The pandemic element raises the perceived ’threat’ level for the characters, but never (at least) for this reader, if that makes sense?

3) The pacing seemed off. It crackles at the start and then the ending is almost cartoonish and slapdash, but the middle seemed to drag on with side trails, red herrings that just never went anywhere, and reveals that were a little…flat, boring even. I didn’t find it particularly propulsive and had it been longer, I might have DNFed.

4) Though the kill count is relatively high, only some of those dispatched are introduced to the reader. I never particularly cared about them even when I knew who they were and their deaths don’t seem to carry much impact, even in the story. The motives of the killer aren’t particularly well-developed, either. The murders are just a thing that happened, almost incidental or trivilaized.

5) Which brings me to my last point. It seemed to me even while reading this (I don’t know if it’s true) that the author had a multi-book contract in the mystery genre and used it to reflect on her feelings and experience with cancer. I appreciate and respect that, I really do, but I was expecting to be entertained with a breezy, fairly predictable genre read and the the cancer/pandemic plot point (as they unfolded and piled up) took me out of that and somewhere I didn’t want or expect to go. It got unexpectedly heavier and real-er than I wanted from this read.

That said, just as this book felt personal, so too are reading experiences. This book will do well and it should. Anyone drawn to this genre or who liked The Woman in the Library should give it a go and make up their minds. And of course, I wish the author (and anyone touched by cancer directly or caring for someone who is) every success and continued victory over that and any health battle, and a storied life for the rest of the days they have.

#FiveFoundDead #NetGalley
Sulari Gentill, known for her masterful blend of historical and contemporary crime fiction, delivers a gripping locked-room mystery in Five Found Dead. Set aboard the legendary Orient Express, this novel weaves classic whodunit elements with modern psychological tension, keeping readers guessing until the very end. Crime fiction author Joe Penvale and his twin sister, Meredith, embark on a much-needed getaway on the luxurious Orient Express. After enduring a grueling medical treatment, Joe hopes for relaxation, while Meredith quietly prays the train’s rich literary history will reignite his passion for writing. And at first, it seems like the perfect retreat. That is, until their neighboring cabin becomes a gruesome crime scene—soaked in blood, yet mysteriously missing a body. As the train speeds through Europe, Joe and Meredith are thrust into a murder investigation alongside a group of passengers with law enforcement backgrounds. But when the train steward assigned to guard the crime scene is murdered, it becomes clear that a killer is lurking among them. With five victims dead and one still unaccounted for, the tension mounts as the travelers race to uncover the truth before they reach their final destination. Will Joe and Meredith survive long enough to unmask the murderer, or is someone determined to ensure they never leave the train alive?
Likes:-
1 Classic Murder Mystery Vibes: Fans of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express will love the enclosed setting, intricate plotting, and chilling atmosphere.
2 Engaging Protagonists: The sibling duo adds a unique dynamic to the investigation, with Joe’s writer’s instincts and Meredith’s unwavering determination making them compelling sleuths.
Dislikes:-
1 Large Cast of Characters: While the diverse range of passengers adds complexity, keeping track of everyone’s backstories and motivations can be a challenge.
2 Pacing in the Middle: The novel occasionally slows down with detailed conversations and red herrings, but the final act more than makes up for it.
Overall:- Five Found Dead is a thrilling homage to classic murder mysteries, blending a locked-room setting with modern psychological twists. Sulari Gentill crafts a compelling narrative that keeps readers on edge, making it a must-read for fans of atmospheric crime fiction. If you enjoy tightly plotted whodunits with a sinister edge, this one is worth the ride.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving me an advance copy.