ARC Review: Murders on a Train

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill

Publication Date: August 19, 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

On a train, there are only so many places to hide…

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe’s muse awake, and he’ll be inspired to write again. And he is; after their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. Seems like this trip is just what the doctor ordered…

And then some. The next morning, Joe and Meredith are shocked to witness that the cabin next door has become a crime scene, bathed in blood but with no body in sight. The pair soon find themselves caught up in an Agatha Christie-esque murder investigation. Without any help from the authorities, and with the victim still not found, Joe and Meredith are asked to join a group of fellow passengers with law enforcement backgrounds to look into the mysterious disappearance of the man in Cabin16G. But when the steward guarding the crime scene is murdered, it marks the beginning of a killing spree which leaves five found dead—and one still missing. Now Joe and Meredith must fight once again to preserve their newfound future and to catch a cunning killer before they reach the end of the line.

ARC provided by Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

I have never read the classic by Agatha Christie that this is loosely based on, but that didn’t stop me from liking this fun contemporary, sort of cozyish, mystery thriller. I really liked the characters and the setting was great, but I did struggle a bit with the mystery and keeping track of all of the suspects.

The story is related only through Meredith’s perspective. I really liked her and her brother Joe. They had a great sibling relationship which came across through their interactions with each other. Both of them are pretty smart and clever and very familiar with fictional mysteries. Meredith is a lawyer, although she has an artist’s heart, and that is how they get involved in helping to solve the murders.

There is a huge group of secondary characters, most of which are not fleshed out that much, so I had a really hard time keeping track of who was who. Many of them had some type of law enforcement background, or were invested in finding the murderer in some way. I was pretty sure that someone in this group was responsible for the murders, but never came up with a concrete suspect. I did like many of these secondary characters, such as the podcast duo, but many of them also felt like background noise or filler characters.

I absolutely loved the setting of the Orient Express. It was richly described and many times I felt like I was right there with them on the train. The pacing of the book was well done and it kept me interested throughout the story. My one dissatisfaction with the story was the mystery. It just felt kind of all over the place, and it was hard to follow the clues, sometimes it even felt like those clues were discovered on the spot by Meredith and Joe, with no hints prior to the discovery. I also kinda felt like five murders was a bit overkill, I didn’t feel like it was necessary to have that many. I did like the addition of some of the passenger’s being quarantined because of a new Covid strain. I think this added some nice tension to the story.

Overall I enjoyed this mystery thriller with a great setting and many mentions of literary train mysteries. I just wish the mystery had been a bit stronger and clearer, and perhaps not so many secondary characters. If you are a fan of this author’s work you will probably enjoy this one. Those of you who enjoy locked room/train mysteries will like this one as well.