When I saw the cover of Murder on the Christmas Express, I had two thoughts: ooh, cozy, and Agatha Christie homage. One of those two impressions was correct. This is so very not a cozy mystery; rape and partner abuse, past and present, features prominently. The trauma is given some respectful attention, but it’s all over most of the book, making it distinctly not cozy. Similarly, the main investigator is also awaiting the imminent birth of her first grandchild, and that’s not going well medically either per the phone updates she gets from her daughter’s fiancee. Trying to get to her daughter Heather’s side is the entire reason Roz is on an overnight train in the first place, but there’s bad weather and there are delays. And murder.
The Agatha Christie part is there; the novel directly includes one character in possession of a copy of Murder on the Orient Express, and the same vibe of the group of people stuck in a pretty limited physical space having to deal with each other and the eventual deaths. Roz is a recently retired police detective, and a fellow passenger to whom she feels a little attracted turns out to be the Scottish equivalent of a district attorney, so there’s the investigation team. The suspects include the university quiz team on their way to a big audition, the social media influencer and her boyfriend, the sassy old lady and her son, a few members of the crew, and a married couple with a handful of kids. Besides the plot and title reference, the overall conclusion where multiple people turn out to be guilty of something, although there’s really only one murderer (sort of; two characters try to kill the same person, and only one of them really accomplishes it) actually does fit the vibe of the Agatha Christie story that you who did it, but everyone is guilty and the whole thing feels vaguely unsettled.
Roz’s personal history plays a factor in both the murder and the side story of trying to get to her daughter, and that plays more of a factor in the overall narrative than you’d expect in a Christie story, and the attempt to stay faithful to the homage and still be a little original and even a little attempt at cozy in the end just doesn’t quite balance out for me. It’s not a bad read exactly, but not the most balanced or satisfying.
