this was a good book!! I think the premise was very good! It kept me wondering what was going to happen, and how the ending would play out. I was not able to guess the ending so thats good!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This was a quick, fast paced mystery that was perfect for a rainy day. The atmosphere was very well crafted and immediately drew me into the story entirely. There was a large cast of characters but they felt distinct enough to keep track of. I appreciated how the story heralded back to the Agatha Christie novels that it drew inspiration from and the solution to the whodunnit — many layered and twisty — felt like an apt tribute.

A fun and highly entertaining, if not altogether plausible, murder mystery!
We join siblings, Joe and Meri, onboard the famous Orient Express for a celebratory trip…. but then the unexpected happens and passengers and staff start getting murdered! Who is the killer and can the mystery be solved before the train reaches its destination?
I did enjoy this story - it was a fairly easy and quick read, although the characters were plentiful. The storyline was quite far fetched but it made for a fun read and a change from the usual murder mystery.
Based on this, I’d definitely read one of Sulari Gentills books again.

Five Found Dead

Five Found Dead follows crime author Joe and his twin sister Meredith as they embark on a journey aboard the Orient Express, a trip meant to mark Joe’s recovery from cancer. However, their voyage takes a sinister turn when a murder occurs, pulling them into a joined investigation with a group of other passengers who are connected to law enforcement in some variety. Intriguingly, the lingering presence of COVID-19 weaves its way into the mystery, adding a modern twist to the classic setting.

I must admit, the novel was not entirely what I expected; it leaned more toward the cozy mystery genre than I had anticipated. At times, the plot required a certain suspension of disbelief, and while I won’t delve into specifics to avoid spoilers, there were moments that stretched logic. However, once I embraced the book on its own terms, I found myself enjoying it.

There is much to appreciate here—the writing is fluid, the pacing engaging, and the central characters are compelling. While not all the supporting characters left a strong impression, the core cast was interesing. Most importantly, the final twist delivered exactly what one hopes for in a mystery novel—an element of surprise that ties everything together in a satisfying way.

The influence of Murder on the Orient Express is evident both thematically and structurally, which was a delight. As a fan of Agatha Christie’s original, I enjoyed seeing how this book played with familiar tropes while crafting its own narrative.

Ultimately, I read Five Found Dead quite quickly by my standards—a testament to its readability and intrigue. While it may not have been what I initially expected, it proved to be an engaging and entertaining mystery

I originally fell in love with the author Sulari Gentill from her extremely meta novel The Woman in the Library. Unfortunately, while this particular story attempted the same quality by way of multiple homages to Agath Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, and Gentill's personal fight with cancer, the story - though well-written - still fell a bit flat.

Our main protagonists of Meredith and Joe are rather vanilla. Joe is a cancer survivor, and Meredith is his sister, but that's about where their character development stops. Nothing allowed them to stand out or be particularly exciting leads. We do have a very full cast of 15+ suspects and/or victims, but they were similarly quite unremarkable. We have hints at romance that aren't explored deeply. I would have really enjoyed being more emotionally invested in our cast of characters.

For a murder mystery in which we end up with five dead bodies by the end of it, there is a distinct lack of urgency or danger. Each time a dead body is discovered, it feels relatively emotionless and bland.

While this novel is clearly inspired by past train murder mysteries, it does attempt to take the "locked door on a train" murder trope and modernize it. We see the COVID-19 pandemic make an appearance as a significant plot element, which was an interesting inclusion.

Overall - this is not a bad book: it just feels a bit more mediocre when compared to The Woman in the Library (and yet is definitely superior to The Mystery Writer). There's a meta element of an ill Gentill writing a book about an ill author who is writing a book on the train about another ill author, but it just wasn't fleshed out enough to be interesting. While perhaps a bit vanilla, I still found this to be an entertaining murder mystery that I would recommend putting at the bottom of your TBR list.

Joe is an author, who has been battling with cancer, so he and his sister decide to have a break and take a trip on board the Orient Express. Joes sister Meredith is hoping that the trip will get Joes creative juices flowing again, as due to his illness, his writing has suffered. The plot begins when the man in the next cabin to theirs disappears, his cabin left soaked in blood.
I believe this book is loosely based on Agatha Christies book, Murder on the Orient Express. Certainly the cast of this story appear to be a mix of characters as was in the original. In my opinion though, the similarity between the two books ends there. I found this book to be implausible, some of the scenarios rather far fetched. Yet I had to carry on reading it, just to see what happened next.
I did enjoy the book, the humour in it, though I'm not sure how intentional it was. I have read books by this author before, and enjoyed them more than this one.

A closed door, murder mystery and a Christie for the modern age.
Joe Penvale and his sister, Meredith, board the Orient Express for the trip of a lifetime. They are not disappointed…but for all the wrong reasons when the disagreeable passenger in the compartment next to theirs disappears…leaving nothing but a blood-soaked room. Has he been murdered or has he killed another passenger? If so, where is the body?
To complicate matters this is post-pandemic with a new deadly virus causing panic and hysteria. The news breaks that passengers in the last carriage are infected, and so they are quarantined. But worse still, the train is not permitted to go forward to its destination or cross a border to return to France. The train is stuck fast, and as the body count rises so does the realisation that Joe and Meri are trapped onboard with a serial killer.
This was a fun-read with a satisfying who-dunnit angle. The plot was deliciously perilous and the stakes high. The story did have me guessing and eagerly turning the pages for the big reveal. The culprit(s) – no spoilers here, just keeping the options open – was unexpected, but equally didn’t come as a slap-to-the-forehead “Why didn’t I see that?” a-ha moment. In truth, and I am being very critical here as it is a thoroughly enjoyable book, the reveal didn’t quite live up to the twists of the rest of the book. But this doesn’t stop me recommending Five Found Dead, and I had enough fun with the characters to look for other books by this author.

I’ve been a fan of Sulari Gentill since “The Woman in the Library” and the recent “The Mystery Writer.” I find her books to be inventive and well-plotted. In “Five Found Dead,” author Gentill takes on the locked room trope, this time aboard the modern day Orient Express, boarding in Paris, non-stop to Venice, in a time while new strains of COVID are rampant, and obviously paying homage to one of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries.

Instead of a Belgian detective, we have Australian twins Joe and Meredith Penvale. Joe is a current literary sensation who is recovering (mostly in secret) from cancer; Meri is his right hand person, lawyer, dog lover, and editor, who has booked the train trip as a relaxing vacation/inspiration for Joe. It’s Meredith’s POV that we experience.

If there is going to be murder on the train (five!), then there must be a large cast of characters to be victims, suspects and detectives, which I’ve listed at the end.

At first, all we have is a blood splattered compartment with an absent victim, and off-screen two carriages are quarantined because of a new strain of COVID. The possibility of not going to Venice, but instead turning around without anyone disembarking, is a possibility. Then there is a real murder in the bloody cabin’s restroom.

There is an over abundance of people with law enforcement connections (twelve!) and too few “normal” people suspects. As Joe notes “I do wonder why there are so many bloody cops and spies on board.” If you are eager to solve the mystery along with the cast of characters, prepare for a slow read as you try to keep track of everyone (as I tried). Joe, the mystery writer, starts transcribing the unfolding drama with hopes of turning the events into his sophomore novel. An element not considered by Christie or Hitchcock is the fact that the quarantined carriages might have something more virulent than regular COVID, so the escape of the virus or the infected passengers is also a looming twist.

I enjoyed this in spite of the large amount of characters, but probably only because I was keeping a fastidious track of them. This isn’t a book that can be skimmed over — if you miss a paragraph regarding some action, you can easily lose what’s going on. Anyway, the author tries to neatly wrap up the story, although it really plodded alone midway. The acknowledgments will give you insight into the author’s personal journey that produced this work. 3.5 stars.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO No green eyes at all.

Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO No plants on the train, although a “garden-variety” knife is assumed to be the murder weapon.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

The passengers besides Meredith and Joe Penvale:
Mystery genre podcasters Flex and Herds, friends of Joe
Napoleon DuPlantier, still young but retired French Policeman, now privately engaged in the pursuit of French fugitive, Monsieur Cheval
Mr. Blackwell, cranky old door-slammer in 16G
Abigay Williams, Jamaican born Detective Inspector, on her “honeymoon” with an invisible spouse
Noel and Siobhan Ferguson, Irish couple, financier and writer
Elle Baird, Scottish Duchess of Kinross, formerly a government employee
Clarice and Penelope Mayfield, elderly sisters from Gloucestershire, octogenarian bounty hunters looking for Gregory Harrington, swindler
Bob Whitman, an American detective, Chicago PD
Buster Sartori, a PI from LA who should aptly be charged with sartorial crimes (green plaid suit)
Aled Rees, Welshman with some kind of background related to international terrorism
Ajeet Singh, Scotland Yard, also on the hunt for Gregory Harrington
Later characters:
Paula Atkinson, traveling alone, in the Paris Suite, dinner partner of 16G on the first night
Leslie Bocquet, 12C, mysterious acquaintance of Joe, maybe a stalker?
Alexei, Eastern European passenger who knows Napoleon
Giovanni, waiter
Maxim, steward
Frank, the Kiwi bartender
Antoine, the butler
Galichet, the chef
Verner Fleischmann, manager of the train

The latest mystery from doyenne of the genre Sulari Gentill continues her run of smartly-written whodunits with a pleasing metatextual edge. Following on the recent resurgence of train-based mysteries (here's looking at you Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone On This Train is a Suspect), this is a charming standalone in which a pair of siblings must help solve a series of slaying on the Orient Express.

Some of the plot contrivances wobble the wheels a bit and overall characterisation is a little one-note, but this is still an elegant, deeply enjoyable time at the hands of an expert at her genre.

five found dead is a murder mystery that takes place on the orient express following meredith as she and her brother take the long, but quite scenic (to say the least!), journey to istanbul.

2.5* rounded up. I enjoyed this albeit a very slow start. I found there was too many characters, and at times I had to flick back some pages to find out who they were. I didn’t really get into it until about 40% of the way through when the story started to pick up.

I did, however, enjoy the story and the whodunnit, which looking back was staring at me in the face.

ultimately I think this book wasn’t for me, and maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more if I had read agatha christie as it seemingly made a lot of homage to her original work.

Five Found Dead had me hooked from the very first page. This fast-paced mystery is sure to keep you guessing until the very end. However, I do wish it was a bit more thrilling, which is why I gave it 3.75 stars!

Plot:

Meredith Penvale agrees to ride the Orient Express with her brother, Joe, who has just won a hard battle against cancer. As a mystery author, Joe can’t help but be inspired by the Orient Express and its literary ghosts. But perhaps Joe gets more than he bargains for when a passenger goes missing and a steward is found dead. In a classic whodunit style, this fast-paced novel will keep you guessing until the very end.

Things I liked:

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is a classic whodunit mystery with many suspects who have realistic motives. It is also full of twists and turns, making this book almost impossible to put down. I was a bit nervous to read a mystery set on the Orient Express, as I feared it would rely too heavily on Agatha Christie’s work. While the iconic book is brought up multiple times, it didn’t impact the mystery aspect of this novel as I had feared. Additionally, I really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters through Meri’s perspective as she is not overly critical, allowing the reader to make assumptions and come to their own conclusions as to who the murderer might be.

Things I disliked:

Upon reflection, I have no major aversions to this book. My biggest gripe would be that it is listed as a thriller, but I did not find it that thrilling. Additionally, I was able to predict some of the bigger plot twists, however, as an avid mystery reader, I feel this cannot be avoided. The only other thing I somewhat disliked was the use of Covid in the story. This is definitely just personal preference, but I feel like it’s too soon to use Covid and the pandemic as a plot point. There was nothing wrong with the way it was written, but it brought me back to reality every time it was mentioned.

Final Thoughts:

If you like mysteries written in a lighthearted tone, this book is for you! It was a very easy read and kept my attention the entire time. I could see this book being a great palette cleanser after a heavier book or even a book to help you get out of a reading slump.

If you’ve ever fantasized about solving a murder on a luxury train while sipping champagne, Sulari Gentill’s Five Found Dead is the perfect vicarious adventure.

Meredith and her brother Joe board the Orient Express for a much-needed getaway, but their trip derails when their neighbor vanishes, leaving behind a cabin soaked in blood.

The passengers are the perfect mix of charming and suspicious, and the train itself feels like a character in its own right—polished wood gleaming under warm lamplight, crystal glasses clinking in the dining car, and corridors humming with the whispers of elegant guests who may or may not be telling the truth.

It’s atmospheric and packed with dry humor, though Gentill’s prose can sometimes slow the pace—whether from dense descriptions or the narrator’s meandering inner thoughts (which, in fairness, is kind of on-brand for a murder mystery on a train). But honestly? It’s a great ride. If you love classic whodunits with a fresh spin, hop aboard!

Mystery writer Joe Penvale and his sister Meri board the famous Orient Express to get away and soak up the ghosts of famous stories. However, life quickly imitates art when their cabin neighbor goes missing and his room is covered in blood. An investigation is immediately started by gathering together all of the dectectives, police, and other familiar with the law, which is a shockingly high number. It also seems that all of them, except Meri a lawyer, share a common villain who goes by many names. As the train moves along, so does the plot, until an outbreak of Covid in another carriage send the train back to Paris. Confusion, short tempers, and a possible international incident finally move the story along until the game comes crashing down. A bit slower in pace than previous Gentill novels, but still an interesting story. For fans of the original Murder on the Orient Express.

Look for my full review in Library Journal
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I enjoyed this twisty, suspenseful story. It plans nice homage to the classic Murder on the Orient Express but feels modern.

This book grasped my attention from the book cover, I know I know dont judge a book by its cover but I saw this and knew I was going to enjoy it. I was right! There was a few twists and turns I didnt see coming and I love that about this book. The fact it takes place in the orient express really did it for me. The style of writing was wonderful. I really recommend this book!

📚I was able to read an advanced copy of title thanks to NetGalley, Sulari Gentill and Poisoned Pen Press 📚
📚All reviews and opinions are entirely my own📚

3.5 stars - This was a 3 star read for me, but since I truly didn’t see the twist I’m bumping it up to a 3.5. Five Found Dead is a classic train, locked room mystery. There is a murderer on board and people keep dying, who is the killer?

There was a lot going on in this book. It starts out slow, with a long list of (highly pretentious) characters that was confusing in the beginning. It would have helped to have a character list to keep everyone straight. The book did pick up about 25% in and it was a fun ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

A mystery writer, Joe, looking for inspiration for his next book and his sister, Meredith, take a trip on the Orient Express. Most of the passengers are well-versed in Agatha Christie’s novels and the famous detective Hercule Poirot. Lots of conversations ensue between the passengers, while those who interact with Joe and Meredith seem… well to have some secrets of their own.
The cabin next-door to the siblings is found locked from the inside the next morning. When they gain entrance, the room is covered in blood and the passenger has disappeared. It looks like detective skills will definitely be needed. It’s up to several intrepid amateurs to band together and find out what is going on before anymore people disappear or are murdered.
Pay close attention as the story unfolds and you may like me figure some of it out. You will definitely want to make sure your little gray cells are working. I know it’s a story about treachery and murder, but it also had some lighthearted moments and just made me keep saying, one more chapter. When everything was revealed, I unfortunately had not deduced the identity of the killer.

I have read Sulari Gentill before and was not disappointed. And yet again I was not disappointed. This was thrilling edge of your seat addictive. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this gem

it's giving thriller mystery in every way. A book that's worthy to prop on your shelf front and center,

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me the ebook ARC of this book. Sulari Gentill should be a much more famous name in the publishing world. She is one of the Best, most inventive and creative mystery writers whose work I’ve had the great pleasure of reading.
Five Found Dead is a contemporary closed room mystery aboard the famous train The Orient Express. Meredith Penvale boards the train in Paris with her twin brother, Joe. Joe recently had his first book published to great acclaim and is currently recovering from a long battle with cancer. As the train takes off on its journey to Istanbul, Meredith and Joe begin to meet the vast array of other interesting fellow passengers. Before the first day is over, one passenger will go missing, leaving an empty very bloody room behind and two cars full of passengers will be quarantined as many test positive for a new strain of Covid.
The twins will group together with a small number of fellow passengers who coincidentally all have some experience in law enforcement or investigation, in an attempt to discover what has happened. Soon dead bodies begin to surface and things become more serious.
Who will be next? And who is the murderer? This was a fun mystery with a very interesting conclusion. I enjoyed the many moments of humor from a few sarcastic characters. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fun mystery. I especially recommend any Sulari Gentill book to anyone who enjoys a good literary mystery. I especially enjoyed After She Wrote Him and The Woman In the Library.