The Case of the Body on the Orient Express is an amateur detective mystery.
Paris 1928. Eliza Baker, the secretary to the secretary of the Detection Club, finds herself on the fabulous Orient Express en route to Istabul and a writer’s conference. With her is her boss, Dorothy L. Sayers, and fellow Detection Club founding member Agatha Christie. Fellow passengers include acquaintances of Dorothy’s, one of whom dies in the elegant dining car. Reunited with Theo Sharp, Eliza investigates the case that threatens to embroil her employer in accusations, scandal, and charges of murder.
Bottom line: The Case of the Body on the Orient Express is for you if you like the style of the golden-age of mysteries with your favorite authors as featured characters.
One of the many strengths of THE CASE OF THE BODY ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS is the way in which Oliver crafts full, multi-dimensional characters of Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie. History often simplifies the complexity of real personalities, boiling people down to one or two trait—he was gruff, she was talkative. Oliver did not take short cuts, going far beyond simple paper cut-outs to delight us with warm, intelligent, and flawed characters. From heartache to shame, from amusement to joy, Christie’s and Sayers’ far from perfect lives make them eminently relatable.
In the Author’s Note, Oliver gives us a peak into her research at the Wade Center at Wheaton College where Dorothy L. Sayer’s archives are held. Beyond the obvious effort Oliver put into her research, her real achievement is how she was able to digest the information and, like silk, weave it into a fabric that is strong and yet delicate.
While I obviously do love the characters of Sayer and Christie, Eliza is the star of this show. At 29, she is unfashionably single and under employed. She has extra ordinary skills from her work during the war and a brief stint with Scotland Yard. She is smart and courageous, which are sometimes at odds as she will charge into situations less than fully prepared. Eliza is a fun detective to watch—while you may not know what she’ll do next, you can be sure it will not be what’s expected of her.
Theo Sharp is the son of an earl, trying to decide what his life will be. In this book, he and his friend Eric Blair, who will become the famed writer George Orwell, are working odd jobs through France, experiencing the life of the working poor, when they take positions are stewards on the Orient Express. Theo, already besotted with Eliza, becomes her side kick and confident. With his position, he gives Eliza easier access to the various cars and cabins than she would otherwise have. There is an attraction between the two that has the otherwise sharp and capable characters fumbling in the dark without a clue.
The portrayal of travel on the train is worth the read alone. The description of the décor and the dress are a step back in time. I found the peaks into the working sections of the train, such as the kitchen and dining cars, particularly interesting for their novelty.
Without giving spoilers, the logic of the mysteries … was complicated. Some elements were fully resolved and stood the test of “looking for the back.” Other elements were not fully contained within the book, hopefully setting up for a satisfying Book 3, but leaving me wanting a bit more.
This is the second book in the Detection Club Mystery. While the mystery itself is independent, in my opinion, it is best to start with Book 1 “The Case of the Christie Conspiracy” for Eliza and the Detection Club’s origin.
TG Wolff 