A locked-room mystery on a train during a blizzard at Christmas? Sign me up. "Murder on the Christmas Express" takes the classic Agatha Christie setup, throws in a cast of passengers with more baggage than the luggage car, and lets the drama unfold as murder derails the trip. There’s a mix of family secrets, hidden agendas, and enough red herrings to keep things interesting—though at times, it feels like the plot is juggling more storylines than it can handle. The pacing is uneven, with a slow build-up that suddenly hits the gas in the final stretch, making for a ride that’s intriguing but occasionally bumpy.

The biggest strength of the book? The atmosphere. The snowed-in train setting is chef’s kiss perfect for a winter mystery, and Benedict layers on the festive-yet-foreboding mood beautifully. However, the cast of characters is hit-or-miss. Some are well-developed and compelling, while others feel like they wandered in from a holiday soap opera. And while the twists are there, not all of them land as smoothly as they should—some feel forced, others are a little too predictable. If you’re a fan of classic whodunits, there’s still plenty to enjoy, even if the mystery itself doesn’t quite hit masterpiece status.

Overall, 3 stars. It’s a fun, cozy mystery with a festive edge, but it doesn’t fully deliver on the high-stakes tension a locked-room thriller should bring. If you’re here for the holiday vibes and the train setting (which is fantastic), it’s worth a read, but if you’re looking for a jaw-dropping mystery, this one might leave you with a mild case of whodunit fatigue.

EXCERPT: A young couple walked by, swinging their clasped hands. They laughed and talked about the party they were off to. Christmas for them would probably be full of light and love and cinnamon kisses. The murderer-to-be was sure that they, along with the law, the police, judges and juries, the soaps and tabloids, would say it was wrong to kill at Christmas. But then they didn't know the victim's secrets. Not yet. When they did, they'd be sure to cheer the killer, and wish them a very merry Christmas.

ABOUT 'MURDER ON THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS': Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.

Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?

All aboard for . . . Murder on the Christmas Express

MY THOUGHTS: This is the third Christmas murder-mystery I have read by Alexandra Benedict and I have enjoyed all of them to varying extents.

Murder on the Christmas Express is a locked room mystery. Although the cover may give the impression of this being a cosy-mystery, it is anything but. There are some (one in particular) very dark themes running through the storyline.

Retired detective Roz Parker needs to get to Scotland where her daughter has gone into premature labor. With the storms, the sleeper train is her only option. Little does she expect to be both derailed and faced with a murder to solve.

Murder on the Christmas Express is yet another example of the author trying to pack too many issues into what should be an entertaining murder-mystery. And the book is a relatively short one at less than 300 pages.

I liked Roz, but perhaps there was a little bit too much angst regarding her relationship with her daughter. we seemed to go over and over the same ground with her spiralling thoughts, although I could understand her anxiety about wanting to get there quickly so that she doesn't blot her copy-book again. While Roz is adept at putting both feet in her mouth, her daughter is, at times, perhaps too quick to take offence.

The murder-mystery itself is, if you separate it from all the other goings on, an interesting one with a good number of red herrings for distraction and a surprise resolution.

For puzzle lovers, there are anagrams to find as you read, and a Christmas Quiz to answer at the end.

⭐⭐⭐.5

#MurderontheChristmasExpress #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR: A.K. Benedict (aka Alexandra Benedict) read English at Cambridge and Creative Writing at the University of Sussex. She lives in Hastings and writes in a room filled with teapots and the severed head of a ventriloquist’s dummy. She did have a blow-up pirate but punctured it.

Alexandra was the front-person of an underground indie band and has composed music for film and television.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own personal opinions.

Roz is a former detective trying to get home to the Highlands to be with her daughter who is giving birth to Roz's first grandchild. Fate seems to be doing everything it can to keep her from getting there in time for the birth. And then... one murder after the other starts taking place on the train and Roz has to figure out what is going on before more people die.

This is a holiday mystery that fans of classic "locked room" whodunits will love. Set aboard a sleeper train trapped in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, the story has twists, turns, and a full cast of bad characters. Benedict masterfully balances suspense, jealousy and urgency, making it a perfect winter read for mystery lovers.

I found this a bit disappointing. The Christmas murder game book was really good and this didn’t have the same appeal.

An enjoyable read that will have you hooked until the very end. I would recommend this book as one you should read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alexandra Benedict and Poisoned Pen Press for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I quite enjoyed this story! Who doesn’t love a good train murder mystery?!? I wouldn’t classify it as a Christmas story, it just happens to take place at Christmas, but there is definitely murder and lots of little reveals (especially toward the end!)

The characters were a fun variety, and there were definitely ones you love to hate. A bit heavier than I expected, there are some trigger warnings (sexual abuse, rape, emotional/mental/physical abuse.) The heavier topics really created a strong female role in this book, though, and that was much appreciated. The female characters were quite strong and a great symbol of solidarity.

So this is an nod to the queen of crime, murder on a train, locked rooms, evil men. A retired police officer needing to get home to her birthing daughter is trapped on a train with a killer. She has to unravel who dunnit ...

This had such an Agatha Christie vibe! People traveling on a train during Christmas time and end up getting stuck because of the snow. And then one by one they are picked off by a killer!

This definitely gives off cutesy Christmas vibes but it talks about some pretty heavy stuff! There’s mention of sexual assault and abuse. Kinda through me off with the seriousness of it. I really enjoyed that it started off with the first death and then it worked it’s way back to really set up the story and then continued from there. I did wish there was less characters and more focus on them cause it was a little confusing with how many characters there were. But overall an enjoyable mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

A combination of Christmas and mystery is exactly what I was looking for in a holiday read - an escape from the typical romance and back to my roots of murder 😅

As a huge fan of locked room mysteries, I was really looking forward to this! As usual with these types of books, it takes me a bit to figure out the characters and how they will contribute to the story. Stuck in a train in a snowstorm, Detective Roz finds herself with a mystery to solve on her holiday as not one but two people wind up dead, and the murderer must be on board. Not having the resources of a typical detective team, this was an interesting story to see how Roz navigates this with skill alone. Not necessarily a fast paced thriller, but one that allows the reader time to think and process through the clues themselves!

I expected this to be a bit of a cozy mystery set on a train, and while it was a mystery on a train it definitely had more depth than I was anticipating for a holiday read. And a bit of a dark, unexpected theme. Maybe if I had gone in prepared for this I wouldn't have been so taken aback. Able to reframe expectations, I did find this one still to be intriguing and engaging throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing this e-ARC. I am anticipating reading this soon and reviewing on my socials.

Former Met Detective Roz Parker is on the sleeper train from London to the Highlands, in hope of reaching her daughter before the snowstorm closes all traffic. They are somewhat estranged and now her daughter is in labor, the perfect time for a mother to be supportive—if only she can get to the hospital.

That hope dims to nothing when the train derails and there aren’t any crews who can come to the rescue anytime soon. The passengers are a mixed group, families, teens studying for a trivia contest, an influencer and her boyfriend/manager, and a couple of singles.

When a body turns up, it looks like Roz has one last case to solve. After all, by the time the police could arrive, all the evidence could be tainted. A second death follows and she begins to wonder who can be trusted, who can’t, who’s lying, and who’s innocent. Murder on a derailed train in a snowstorm is the modern equivalent of a locked room mystery, the hardest kind to solve. Is there anybody Roz can trust?

This is not just a “who dun it’ mystery but “did someone do it, if yes, how did they do it, and why” tale. While it seems to move slowly in parts, it’s because the passengers are stranded, there’s no internet, no forensics team, or help of any kind. If you’re looking for a mystery with more thriller vibes than a happy holiday story, this is the book for you.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

I enjoyed a great deal about this book. I loved the concept; Roz is an interesting and capable lead; and Alexandra Benedict's writing kept me hooked from the very beginning. She's great at pacing and maintaining tension. That being said, given the obvious homage to Agatha Christie in the plot description, I was expecting this to be a modern cozy mystery. It hits many of the cozy characteristics, but I was unprepared for how sexual assault impacts this book. This was not the fun, light Christmas cozy I was expecting; it was an interesting mystery built upon assault and trauma that carries over and impacts several characters. Because I review cozy mysteries, I opted to not feature this one for professional review. I believe if this book had different marketing (perhaps something to denote the darker tones and themes of the mystery?) then I would have experienced it differently. It's a strong book, but I think readers should be prepared for the content.

Enjoyed the Christmas flair but definitely a book that’s best during the season! Enjoyed the older lead. Wish it had a character list. Holiday brain is real!

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train from London to the Highlands derails, along with the festive plans of its travelers. With the train buried in snow in the middle of nowhere, the passengers have only each other, and not all of them will reach their holiday celebrations.
As a killer tries to pick passengers off one by one, former Met Detective Roz Parker can't resist one last investigation, but murder in a locked room is a formidable puzzle for even the most seasoned investigator. As accusations begin to fly, the group of travelers fractures and unexpected alliances form. Can Roz find the culprit before anyone else is lost?
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving me an advance copy.

I picked this book because I thought it would be a nice seasonal mystery.. It ended up being a lot deeper than I thought and i didn't see the ending coming.. A train trip a few days before Christmas has some anxious travelers. When an influencer is found dead in her cabin the mood instantly changes on the trip and a former police officer has to solve the crime to make sure the train doesn't get help up and force her to miss her daughters delivery. There are some potential triggers in this book concerning mental and physical abuse.
When a second murder occurs the stakes get even higher as well as the danger..

Author Alexandra Benedict has made an avocation out of Christmastime murder and mayhem. I previously read Benedict’s so-so The Christmas Murder Game, and there’s another I haven’t read, The Christmas Jigsaw Murders. I’ve returned to read her latest Noël-themed mystery, Murder on the Christmas Express.

This time around, a retiring Met detective named Roz Parker and the other train passengers get stuck on a derailed train while heading to Scotland. Needless to say, there’s a murder. (It’s in the title, right? Plus the girl is killed even before the first chapter.)

Murder on the Christmas Express has the feel of a later book in a series, but I couldn’t find any previous entries. Which is a pity, as I would love to know more about Parker’s odd relationship with her lesbian daughter and about the other cases that Benedict alludes to.

It’s as if Benedict took J. Jefferson Farjeon’s excellent Mystery in White, and decided to riff on the original. Benedict’s writing has improved since The Christmas Murder Game, but there’s still some clunky writing and an denouement that defies belief on several counts. It's not bad, but I found myself flipping through the book to just get to the end. My advice? Read the 1937 original and skip this one.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-copy for an honest review.

This is an isolated close circle Mystery.
This was such a fun, Christmas read. A large group of characters all traveling on the train from England to Scotland on an overnight train. But a snowstorm has covered the rails and the train is stopped. Slowly people are dying or getting murdered. Our main character is a retired detective and with the help of another passenger starts investigating the deaths.

I loved this book, so fast paced, short chapters. You wanna fall in love with some characters do you wanna eat some characters and just love the setting.

Five stars all around for this book! I loved this book!! The characters were great and likeable. The mystery had me guessing throughout the book!

Passengers on a train get trapped (of course) with a murderer in their midst. Although I read this author's previous book and enjoyed it, this one didn't do it for me. The characters were obnoxious and unlikeable so you didn't really care if they were murdered, and there were quite a few dark themes in this book which seems like it was a "Christmas" story - but wasn't. This is one I would give a pass to. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Retired Met detective Roz is on the sleeper train to Scotland to spend the holidays with her daughter who is about to give birth. But when a popular reality tv star and influencer is murdered the train comes to a halt. When another murder is committed Roz can’t help but try and find the murderer. As the passengers seem to have links to one another the case is complicated and Roz is distracted by the updates about her daughter giving birth in the hospital. Will Roz be able to solve the mystery by the time the train gets to Scotland and her daughter?

This was a well written, Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery that kept me reading and wanting to find out who the murderer was. I do wish it was a little more lighthearted, but enjoyed it nonetheless!