C.A. Larmer's Blog

Size does matter to many of you, but there's one thing that matters more…… Read More Don’t judge a book by (the size of) its cover, and other lessons I learned from my readers…

There's a growing trend to publish crime novels as plump as encyclopedias. Not all of them are worth the time, the effort and the headspace… Read More In Defence of Quick(er) Reads

Did you know, you can now sign up for a writing course with the best-selling author of all time, Agatha Christie? No worries that she's six feet under… … Read More Agatha Christie Is Alive! (Well, Not Quite)

My husband can't understand it. I loathe horror movies and as soon as a show gets too dark (yes, Black Mirror, I'm talking about you), I'm out. And yet I'm a passionate crime writer / reader. So how does that work?… Read More The Kindness of Crime (Fiction)

Last month I asked what kind of crime novel you'd kill for. Cosy? Thriller? Horror suspense…? Your response was overwhelming, surprising and delightful! Within one minute of sending out my open-ended email query—"What's your fave crime genre?"—the replies began streaming in. By the end of February I had well over a hundred responses, and for… Read More Announcing Your Fave Crime Genre, the Gift Card Winner + Mega eBook Sale

Let me know your favourite crime genre and be in the running for a $20 Amazon gift card…… Read More Thriller? Cosy? Hard-Boiled Detective? Tell & Win!

To kick off the New Year I have TWO big promotions to tell you about. Sign up for the chance to win 31 crime/thriller/suspense novels AND get hold of my NEW cosy mystery for just 99c!… Read More Book Basket Up For Grabs + 99c Cosy Sale

MEGA eBOOK SALE — STASH THESE KILLER STORIES AWAY FOR LATER (and there will be a later, I assure you!) Sick of spending all your $$$ on gifts for everyone but you? I've got a lovely little gift idea that's fun, affordable and gives YOU something to look forward to when the cray-cray of Christmas… Read More Spoil YOURSELF this Christmas 🤗

This is a quick blog to show off my new cosy mystery AND let you know I've changed my newsletters. Read on for more…
FIRST: How great does my brand-new cover look (above)? My seventh MURDER MYSTERY BOOK  CLUB adventure— Peril on the Indian Pacific —will be out very soon, but this exclusive cover reveal will give you just a taste of what's to come. Set on the iconic Indian Pacific—a real luxury train that travels across the wide brown girth of Australia—this image was snapped by my trusty photographer/hubby Christian Pyle. We had the good fortune to jump aboard and experience the train for ourselves, while also researching my latest mystery. I'll share more on that next time. For now, a big THANKS to Christian for the image, to my trusty designer Nimo for the design, and to the Indian Pacific for letting me come along and wreak havoc (fictionally, at least!).
SECOND: As life gets busier and your In-box more cluttered, I know many of you no longer have time to trawl through endless, complicated emails, so I've scaled my monthly newsletter right back. If you don't already and would like to receive my simplified chats, giving you a quick update of what I'm doing, any sales I'm having and any news I need to report, just email me directly and I'll add you to the list:

christina@calarmer.com

Meantime, you can catch up on all my books, including the earlier instalments of the Murder Mystery Book Club series at all good online eBook and paperback stores, or you can click here at Amazon.

That's it for now, folks. Happy trails…xx Christina

KEEPING TRACK OF MURDER(It's enough to make you think twice about that next trip!)

When I started researching for my seventh Murder Mystery Book Club adventure, I looked around for a well-known train mystery that my gang could be reading while embroiled in a train mystery of their own.

It didn't take long to find one. Then another. And another! Before I knew it, I was swamped with books to read!

Beyond the Orient Express

When you think of murder on a train, the first book that usually comes to mind is Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, at least it does for me. But, of course, it's not the only one. In fact, it's extraordinary just how many crime novels take place on or around trains. Christie, alone, featured locomotives in at least SEVEN mysteries, some of them short stories, others lesser-known full-length novels like The Mystery of the Blue Train (hands up who's read that one? You really should. It's terrific!).

Then there's Patricia Highsmith's 1950 thriller Strangers on a Train, French noir author Sebastien Japrisot's The Sleeping Car Murders, and the most famous modern train mystery I can think of—The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, which was turned into a film starring Emily Blunt.

Train of thought

What is it about train travel that sparks the "leetle grey cells"? Is it the train's frantic pace? The screeching tracks? Or the eerie isolation of a private compartment, the perfect setting to bump someone off? Even a crowded carriage makes a good crime scene, what with all eyes staring outwards, distracted by the passing view.

Train travel usually involves a lengthy journey with plenty of time to do the deed, and strangers to pin it on, not to mention sneaky places to stash a corpse. And while murder does not take place on the train in Hawkins' book, for instance, it still provides a dramatic backdrop for the narration of the story, the protagonist's daily commute becoming a pivotal part of the plot.

Getting Carriage Away

With all that in mind—and far too many books from which to choose—I decided to up the ante in this next installment and have my book club each reading a different train mystery. Yep, that's SEVEN murder mysteries to dissect as they dissect their own "real-life" mystery.

For more on what that real-life mystery is, and which books the group choose, stay tuned. I'll be revealing more details over the next few months, and giving you, the reader, a chance to win FREE COPIES of this, the Murder Mystery Book Club 7, which is due out mid-August.

Until then, happy train travels, folks, but maybe keep one eye on your fellow passengers as you soak up that passing view!

xo Christina

CATCH UP ON THE SERIES NOWThe Murder Mystery Book Club (6 book series)

Bored to tears with her literary book club, Alicia Finlay and her sister Lynette start a club to die for—a Murder Mystery Book Club, that is!

No sooner have they gathered six crime buffs together, a real-life mystery lands in their lap. Then another, and another…

If you love closed-circle thrillers, unexpected twists and deliciously dark humor, you're going to love this eclectic group of friends who must draw on their knack for solving puzzles—and the wisdom of the world's most famous fictional sleuths—to work out whodunit and why.

Can you solve these mysteries before the Book Club do?

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