Preorder the BRAND NEW installment in Kelly Oliver’s brilliantly addictive Detection Club cozy mystery series Paris, 1928: Agatha Christie and fellow writer Dorothy L Sayers board the Orient Express, bound for Constantinople. Christie in particular is looking forward to a break from recent dispiriting events in both her work and private life – the finalisation of her divorce from her philanderous husband Archie, and the miserly reception of her latest book.
But before the duo can settle in to enjoy the luxuries of their first-class journey, their journey is derailed when a fellow guest drops dead during the dinner service. And as the last person to speak to the victim, Dorothy finds herself a prime suspect in his murder.
As the train hurtles East, Sayers’ resourceful assistant Eliza and her friend Theo must navigate a maze of suspects. But with each passing mile, the stakes rise, and when another body is discovered, their search to find the killer before they reach their destination becomes increasingly complicated.
Can Eliza and Theo stay one step ahead, crack the mystery and clear Dorothy’s name? Or will this be one journey too far for the amateur sleuths?
This is the second instalment in the Detection Club Mystery Series, centring around Eliza and her employer, famous mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers, who’s the secretary of the Detection Club. It involves famous writers (here we meet Dorothy, Agatha Christie and a very young George Orwell) and places that are forever connected with that Golden Age of mystery fiction.
This story in particular is set partly on the Orient Express and partly in Istanbul, and I totally loved the settings. It’s vivid and exotic and colourful. Indeed, you can feel that particular classic mystery atmosphere..
The murder mystery itself is intriguing, and in addition to this, there is always the sensation that something bigger is happening under the surface. Exactly what we learn in the end.
Eliza is a tough heroine: she’s fiercely devoted to her family (made up by her sister and her beagle) and very wary of everybody else, including her famous travel companions.
Coming from a disadvantaged past, she is distrustful of everyone – which is not the perfect situation for a blooming romance, unfortunately for Theo.
It’s a fast-paced, intriguing mystery novel, with a distinct cosy feeling to it.
Great read.
NOTE: Read an article about the Orient Express by Kelly Oliver here.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I write historical fantasy set in the 1920s, and I read a lot, a lot of books set in the same era. On this blog, I regularly share book reviews of novels set in the 1920s (and sometimes 1910s and 1930s). If you love this kind of setting too ➡️ Subscribe to my newsletter
The Case of the Body on the Orient Express by Kelly Oliver #BookReview Historical cosy mystery set on the Orient Express involving Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie #HistoricalFiction #CosyMystery Share on XThe Case of the Body on the Orient Express
Excerpt
Like the rest of the train, the restaurant was gorgeously appointed with wood-pannelled walls decorated with gold and pink inlaid flowers. Each table sported a white linen table-cloth, its own small candlestick lamp, and a single lily in a silver vase. And the chairs were high-backed, cushioned, upholsered numbers that matched the drapes. Perfectly placed cucumbers and carrots sliced so thin you could see through them glimmered like stained glass on the Noritake china plates inlaid with blue-trimmed gold leaf. The only other time Eliza had seen such opulence was when, as a girl, she snuck into the Palm Court at the Ritz following a mark, a rich dandy who had entered the restaurant with a fat wallet in his pocket, which somehow got transferred to hers when she accidentally bumped into him.
Dorothy fiddled with her napkin and rearranged her silverware. She refused to talk abotu Peachy and flushed whenever Agatha and Eliza tried to pry information out of her. Dorohy’s agitation was contagious. Eliza tried to snake it off by engaging Agatha in small talk. Although Agatha’s idea of small talk was anything but small.
THE DETECTIVE CLUB SERIES SO FAR
The Thursday Quotables was originally a weekly post created by Lisa Wolf for her book blog Bookshelf Fantasy . It isn’t a weekly post anymore, not even for Lisa, but just like her, I still love to share my favourite reads on Thursdays and I still use the original template which included an excerpt.
NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.
