A murder mystery novel set on a train, starring Ernest, a crime writer who seems to encounter a lot of real-life murderers. There’s a festival of crime writers and two people get murdered, so lots of people around who want to play amateur detective.

The mystery element was pleasant enough and kept me guessing until the end. But I did find the narrator’s commentary a bit grating – lots of winking at camera to say “pay attention, this will be important later”. I prefer it when I’m allowed to spot those connections myself.

This book is a sequel to a previous murder mystery, but it mostly works as a standalone. I do wonder if Juliette (Ernest’s girlfriend) works better if you have that context – she felt like a background character in this book.

I enjoyed this, but it’s not strong enough to persuade me to read the author’s other books.

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