"A lovely train ride in British Columbia and murder"

Jessica is taking a leisurely three-day journey on a classic train, the historic Whistler Northwind, with members of the Track and Rail Club through much of British Columbia. She was invited by her friend Reggie Weems who is one of the Vice Presidents of the club. The trip begins and ends in Vancouver, one of her favorite cities.

Not into the trip, Al Blevin, the club's president, goes into convulsions and dies after taking a sip of a Bloody Mary. Immediately Jessica suspects strychnine poisoning. Al's wife Theodora tells Jessica emphatically to stop talking about it being poisoning. She said he had heart failure.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Detective Marshall asks Reggie and Jessica to keep their ears and eyes open and report back to him with any information they get.

Theodora's son, Benjamin, follows Jessica up Whistler Mountain and tells her to "butt out!" She has some accidents and other encounters along the way.

Plus there's the mysterious disappearance of Theodora's previous husband, Elliott Vail. He disappeared on that very train three years ago. Everyone believes he jumped, but his body was never found. Jessica wonders if there is any correlation to Al's death.

Al was not well liked, so there is a plethora of suspects. Plus there is plenty of trouble in his past to add to the suspect list. Can they figure out who did it and why before the end of the trip and everyone heads home and without Jessica finding herself in peril?

After watching so many years of Murder, She Wrote on television, I can "see" the characters acting out the book as I read it. It is a lot of fun and so easy to read.

I especially enjoyed this book with it being set on such a wonderful train trip. The scenery was wonderful. I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle
Posted September 8, 2004

Read an Excerpt

Everyone's favorite crimesolver takes a ride on the historic Whistler Northwind train through Canada...in this very special twentieth novel in the bestselling series.

Summary

Celebrity mystery writer Jessica Fletcher has always loved Vancouver. So when her friend from Cabot Cove invites her on a three-night trip with his railroad association through scenic British Columbia, she's thrilled. But shortly before their first stop in Whistler, an esteemed member of the entourage takes a sip of a Bloody Mary, goes into convulsions, and dies. The body is quickly removed and the trip continues, but the mood of the group is now low—and suspicions are high.

As the train moves deep into Cariboo gold mining territory, past glacier-carved canyons and snow-capped mountains, police begin investigating and interrogating each passenger. The viable suspects are gathered together in the luxurious Starlight Express dinner car, and it's up to Jessica to do some unplanned sleuthing...before someone else's plans are derailed by sudden death...