As a reader I am becoming more and more shallow. I have been buying books purely for the reason of aesthetics. Ooooo that cover looks so pretty, I must buy the book!
On one of my book store visits I was literally bombarded with bright yellow covers. And hold your breath, all the books are old murder mysteries. I was like “a child in the candy store” or like “me in the candy store”.
There were so many names from early 20th century and 19th century, I went mad. And then those bright sunflower colours. I went crazy browsing. I could not decide which one to buy while my husband was giving me his best I-thought-we-are-only-browsing-not-buying look. I pretended to not notice and then asked him to take my 10 to 20 pics with the yellow books.
These yellow books have a great history. They are called yellowjackets or yellowbacks. They are published by Hodder & Stoughton in early 20th century. These books are of mostly of thriller and mystery genres. The tagline “where thriller really began” can be seen on the back of each book.
Recently these editions have been revived and reprinted. The book I bought is reprinted in 2023.
And the book I bought is The Rome Express. I had a tough time deciding on which book to buy. Finally, I decided on this book because of the blurb on the back read “before Orient Express there was Rome Express”. How could I resist when Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is mentioned.
The book was first published in 1896. The writer of the book is Arthur Griffiths. He was a British military officer and a prison administrator. He chronicled war. He wrote many non-fiction and fiction.
I thought initially thought the writer is French and the book is translated from French. Because the book is too French. The place names, people, train all French. There are splatters of French all over the book without giving any translation. All these affected my reading experience.
Like Murder on the Orient Express (a book published much later) a dead body is discovered in Rome Express. The suspects are limited to the members of the coach. Unlike Orient Express where the murder is solved inside the train only here passengers got off and then the investigation starts.
I liked the premise and the ending but the middle part did not work for me. The thrill of investigation is not maintained. The interrogation, chase, discussion etc don’t help in making the reader feel on the edge of the seat. The pace is slow. But the plot is good. In the train the dead person is a swindler. There is a mysterious lady and her even more mysterious servant. There is a police man who had come to catch the swindler. There are also former soldier and priest among the list of suspects. The train was on the move during and after the murder was committed. Apart from a very short stop. Who could have managed to flee in that tiny stop?
Musings 