First Class Murder

This is the third outing for the Wells & Wong Detective Society and fully acknowledging Mrs Christie’s work it takes place on the Orient Express.

Hazel’s father hopes to keep the girls out of trouble by taking them on holiday on the Orient Express.  The train gradually fills up with exotic and suspicious characters, each obviously with something to hide.  Not least is Mrs Helen Vitellius whom we have met before under a different name. Just like the original, the train is held up, this time by an explosion on the line and as we wait the wealthy heiress with the fabulous jewels is murdered in her sleeping compartment.

As with the other books in the series, the story rattles along with red herrings galore.  Finally Daisy and Hazel solve the case along with Alexander Arcady of the Junior Pinkertons. I shall reveal no more of the plot.

It is a jolly romp very much in line with the period it is set, characters and motives are very much as you would expect in a novel from the “Golden Age of Crime”.  There are no deep messages hidden within the narrative but it does acknowledge the casual racism of the time in the attitudes toward Hazel and her father from some of the other characters.

A light read to keep you occupied on a long train journey, preferably without a corpse.