Five Found Dead
By Sulari Gentill (Poisoned Pen Press, $39.99)
Thanks to Agatha Christie’s iconic 1934 novel, the words Orient Express have for almost a century symbolised not only luxury travel across Europe but baffling murder. A mere mention can’t help but conjure images of a moustachioed Belgian sleuth.
Though there is no Poirot in sight, there are plenty of sleuths on board the train in Five Found Dead, Australian crime writer Sulari Gentill’s modern homage to the Christie classic. Narrator Meredith is a lawyer accompanying her twin Joe on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with twin purposes: to celebrate Joe surviving cancer and hopefully rekindle his crime writing mojo. Fellow passengers include former spies, police officers, private eyes and sisters on the trail of a swindler. Suspicious? Or merely to be expected given the celebrated train’s drawcard mix of literary history and luxury?
Joe’s muse is stirred; on the first evening he begins to write again. But the next morning, the cabin next door is bathed in blood. Cut off from the outside due to various factors, including a Covid strain tearing through parts of the train, Joe and Meredith are asked to join a group looking to find answers. But what if one of them is the killer? Especially as other bodies begin to show up.
Gentill, who clearly has lots of love for Golden Age-style mysteries, given her own series set in 1930s Australia starring artist-sleuth Rowly Sinclair, appears to be thoroughly enjoying herself with this, a clever, engrossing mystery incorporating plenty of winks and nods to its antecedents. It’s a fun read, one that, like Christie herself at times, rides the implausibility curve to its limits. But it’s also riveting and has whispers of memento mori, as Gentill infuses Joe’s character and others with reflections on the fragility of life.
Bella Donna
By Jill Johnson (Black & White, $37.99)
With her quirky, unusual sleuth and murderous use of poisonous plants, Brighton-based Kiwi storyteller Jill Johnson’s Professor Eustacia Rose series conjures the kind of mysteries Christie herself would likely have enjoyed. Johnson blends fascinating characters, deadly botanicals and page-turning events into some very good reads.
In this third offering, neurodivergent Eustacia is juggling some tricky things: a visit from her lover, Matilde, who seems to want to change her well-ordered life a little too much; a search for some of her extremely deadly plants stolen from her private garden; and trying to avoid telling her police contacts just how well she knew a murdered man. And how well she knew the murder weapon – he was poisoned with hemlock, likely stolen from her own garden.
What has a dangerous gang got to do with things, and why are Zsa Zsa, a beguiling trader of rare plants, and Professor Hutchings, from a rival university, determined to team up with her? Can’t everyone just leave her alone to do things her way?
Johnson has created an unforgettable main character, a fascinating and frustrating, compelling and contradictory woman. Bella Donna is a mystery where the many secrets held by various characters, including Eustacia herself, may be even more poisonous than the deadly plants. Johnson does a good job drawing readers into a twisting tale. More please.
