What do you think?
Rate this book
Murder on the Airship
An emergency landing, quarreling elven and naga nobility, meddlesome dwarven officials, renegade pixies, dubious mercenaries, and a dragon who cheats at cards.
Bad enough without a murder.
Thyria had signed on to protect passengers, not investigate them. But she takes over morning watch aboard the Silver Kestrel, the finest airship aloft, to find a first-class passenger stabbed to death in his own stateroom.
Now she must investigate – tactfully, whatever that means – a burgeoning diplomatic incident, navigating the towering egos of influential passengers who each have something to hide.
Because if she doesn’t find her quarry within the day, this will be the Kestrel’s final flight.
Bad enough without a murder.
Thyria had signed on to protect passengers, not investigate them. But she takes over morning watch aboard the Silver Kestrel, the finest airship aloft, to find a first-class passenger stabbed to death in his own stateroom.
Now she must investigate – tactfully, whatever that means – a burgeoning diplomatic incident, navigating the towering egos of influential passengers who each have something to hide.
Because if she doesn’t find her quarry within the day, this will be the Kestrel’s final flight.
- GenresMystery
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 7, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 14, 2026
An airship full of passengers with nowhere to escape, and someone decides that murder is a great in-flight activity. Unfortunately for absolutely everyone, the person stuck dealing with all this is Thyria, a guard who signed up for “watch the hallway and don’t die,” not “mediate a growing list of people who may or may not be homicidal.”
Every passenger feels like they’re hiding something. The ship's packed with fantasy species, egos, secrets, snooty nobles, and the general sense that if one more thing goes wrong the entire trip will descend into magical anarchy. Which, to be fair, it sort of does.
The mystery itself kept me guessing because every time I thought I had a theory, another character would say or do something suspicious or just exist suspiciously. At some point I was side-eyeing basically everyone on that airship, including people who were probably just waiting for all this stupidity to blow over so they could get back to their snacks.
I love Thyria. She's all of us. She’s competent but also exhausted by the nonsense happening around her. She's so done with everything and everyone. Watching her try to keep things under control while surrounded by chaos merchants nearly broke me.
Sometimes the cast felt a bit too big and chaotic so I had to pause and try to remember who exactly was threatening who and why. But that kind of added to the whole experience, because, really, being confused af feels appropriate when you’re trapped on a flying crime scene with a bunch of weirdos.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC
Every passenger feels like they’re hiding something. The ship's packed with fantasy species, egos, secrets, snooty nobles, and the general sense that if one more thing goes wrong the entire trip will descend into magical anarchy. Which, to be fair, it sort of does.
The mystery itself kept me guessing because every time I thought I had a theory, another character would say or do something suspicious or just exist suspiciously. At some point I was side-eyeing basically everyone on that airship, including people who were probably just waiting for all this stupidity to blow over so they could get back to their snacks.
I love Thyria. She's all of us. She’s competent but also exhausted by the nonsense happening around her. She's so done with everything and everyone. Watching her try to keep things under control while surrounded by chaos merchants nearly broke me.
Sometimes the cast felt a bit too big and chaotic so I had to pause and try to remember who exactly was threatening who and why. But that kind of added to the whole experience, because, really, being confused af feels appropriate when you’re trapped on a flying crime scene with a bunch of weirdos.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC
March 19, 2026
I've been reading a lot of classic mystery books lately, largely because a lot of the new fantasy books coming out now are not to my taste. So I was pleased to find that this book combined the two: a mystery with a limited pool of suspects (but there are seven of them, so it takes some work), set in a fantasy world. I also enjoyed the fact that the detective wasn't a brilliant savant but an ordinary guard, thrust into the position of having to solve the crime because her boss has been (non-fatally) poisoned in the course of events, who takes a doggedly persistent approach to interviewing the suspects and figuring out what happened. It's much more Freeman Wills Crofts than Austin W. Freeman, in other words, and if you're also a fan of hundred-year-old mystery books you'll probably know what that means. Also, there's no romance, indeed no romantic or sexual relationships, whatsoever, and while I don't object to those, it is refreshing to have a book that just focuses on the mystery.
The course of events is complicated, meaning that it's far from clear for a long time who has committed what crime, and specifically who has committed the murder. It's well orchestrated and cleverly done, though, like the protagonist, I wondered how all these people hadn't stumbled across each other while nefariously wandering the ship late at night.
It's usually a pretty sound rule of thumb that if there's an airship in a book, there are also multiple vocabulary errors. I don't know why this is. Fortunately, in this book I only spotted one such error, a common one which I will mention to the publisher and which may well be gone by publication. (I had a pre-publication version via Netgalley for review.)
The editing is generally OK, though there are a few common issues - occasional missing past perfect tense, "may" in past tense narration where it should be "might" - and a slight oddity in the punctuation of some dialog. Again, I'll mention these to the publisher, and some of them may well be fixed by publication.
This is a sound piece of mystery writing, and an appealing fantasy world, two things I enjoy separately which it turns out I also enjoy together. I'll be looking out for more from this author.
The course of events is complicated, meaning that it's far from clear for a long time who has committed what crime, and specifically who has committed the murder. It's well orchestrated and cleverly done, though, like the protagonist, I wondered how all these people hadn't stumbled across each other while nefariously wandering the ship late at night.
It's usually a pretty sound rule of thumb that if there's an airship in a book, there are also multiple vocabulary errors. I don't know why this is. Fortunately, in this book I only spotted one such error, a common one which I will mention to the publisher and which may well be gone by publication. (I had a pre-publication version via Netgalley for review.)
The editing is generally OK, though there are a few common issues - occasional missing past perfect tense, "may" in past tense narration where it should be "might" - and a slight oddity in the punctuation of some dialog. Again, I'll mention these to the publisher, and some of them may well be fixed by publication.
This is a sound piece of mystery writing, and an appealing fantasy world, two things I enjoy separately which it turns out I also enjoy together. I'll be looking out for more from this author.
March 17, 2026
What would you get if Terry Pratchett's Discworld visited Agatha Christie's Murder on the Nile? Probably something along the lines of Victoria Bergman's Murder on the Airship.
When guard Thyria finds one of the annoying first-class passengers stabbed to death on the airship Silver Kestrel, it isn't a great start to her day. The good news is that there are a limited number of suspects, since most of the passengers were in town partying for the solstice. The rest of the news is all bad. All the guests have reasons to want him dead; the airship has been sabotaged; the elves and naga are about five minutes from war and everyone is taking sides on the ship; there's at least two assassination attempts on top of the murder; a smuggled dragon; and let's not even mention the pixies. The guard who should be in charge is in sickbay with a bad case of being poisoned and it's up to Thyria to figure out what happened—preferably before the local dwarves get involved. But when everyone has a reason to want soomeone dead, how do you find the actual killer?
Thyria is a fun character. She's not a detective. She's the guard who gets to threaten smugglers and toss drunks off her ship while her boss handles things like "diplomacy" and "politeness". So she's completely out of her element being asked to deal with important ambasadors and first-class passengers. Give her a good bar fight any day! She's quite sure at first she can't handle the assignment. But the captain is busy and she's the only one left to handle it, so she has to grit her teeth and figure it out.
There's a delightful sense of humor to Bergman's writing. Thyria approaches the murder (and the world) with a no-nonsense, we're-all-in-this-together-so-why-waste-my-time feeling. The various high-handed sensibilities of the senators, ambasadors, and self-described important people she has to deal with don't get anywhere with her. But they try. While she may not be able to threaten them the way she can incompentent mercenaries and moronic magic students, she learns the power of a fake smile and a little blackmail.
While things got a little overly complicated in ways they might not have needed to, and tangled with a few extra subplots, Murder on the Airship was a delightful cozy fantasy mystery that should make readers of both genres happy and looking for more by Victoria Bergman. I will certainly be hoping for more flights by the Silver Kestrel.
When guard Thyria finds one of the annoying first-class passengers stabbed to death on the airship Silver Kestrel, it isn't a great start to her day. The good news is that there are a limited number of suspects, since most of the passengers were in town partying for the solstice. The rest of the news is all bad. All the guests have reasons to want him dead; the airship has been sabotaged; the elves and naga are about five minutes from war and everyone is taking sides on the ship; there's at least two assassination attempts on top of the murder; a smuggled dragon; and let's not even mention the pixies. The guard who should be in charge is in sickbay with a bad case of being poisoned and it's up to Thyria to figure out what happened—preferably before the local dwarves get involved. But when everyone has a reason to want soomeone dead, how do you find the actual killer?
Thyria is a fun character. She's not a detective. She's the guard who gets to threaten smugglers and toss drunks off her ship while her boss handles things like "diplomacy" and "politeness". So she's completely out of her element being asked to deal with important ambasadors and first-class passengers. Give her a good bar fight any day! She's quite sure at first she can't handle the assignment. But the captain is busy and she's the only one left to handle it, so she has to grit her teeth and figure it out.
There's a delightful sense of humor to Bergman's writing. Thyria approaches the murder (and the world) with a no-nonsense, we're-all-in-this-together-so-why-waste-my-time feeling. The various high-handed sensibilities of the senators, ambasadors, and self-described important people she has to deal with don't get anywhere with her. But they try. While she may not be able to threaten them the way she can incompentent mercenaries and moronic magic students, she learns the power of a fake smile and a little blackmail.
While things got a little overly complicated in ways they might not have needed to, and tangled with a few extra subplots, Murder on the Airship was a delightful cozy fantasy mystery that should make readers of both genres happy and looking for more by Victoria Bergman. I will certainly be hoping for more flights by the Silver Kestrel.
April 2, 2026
An airship is forced to land in a remote mountain region. While most of the passengers and crew are unloaded to stay in the local town, a scarce few remain on board. The following morning, one of the passengers who stayed aboard is found dead, and the head guard poisoned - alive, but unwell. The suspect pool is small, and it falls to stand-in guard Thyria to unravel the mystery and find a killer before the murder becomes common knowledge and the airship is permanently grounded.
For a cosy murder mystery this is something unique. Not only the airship concept, but the fact that it's set in an almost Tolkien-inspired world of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Pixies and Naga (snake-people, to over simplify). The result could have been dreadful...but it really works!
The plot was a lot deeper and more political than I had imagined it would be, and there were layers upon layers of intrigue for such a short book. The lead character - Thyria - is well portrayed as being way out of her comfort zone without appearing stupid, and her Elven sidekick come translator is a lovely counter to her. They balance each other well despite not being an obvious pairing, and I hope we see them working another case again soon.
There are some lovely comedy moments in here - the concluding scene of the investigation is a genuinely funny moment of descending chaos; oh and Kyree? Excellent. No spoilers as to who or what it is but more Kyree, all the time.
I have no idea what I was expecting coming into this book but I had so much fun with this. I will be coming back to this world for sure.
~ Thanks to NetGalley for granting me the ARC in exchange for an honest review~
For a cosy murder mystery this is something unique. Not only the airship concept, but the fact that it's set in an almost Tolkien-inspired world of Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Pixies and Naga (snake-people, to over simplify). The result could have been dreadful...but it really works!
The plot was a lot deeper and more political than I had imagined it would be, and there were layers upon layers of intrigue for such a short book. The lead character - Thyria - is well portrayed as being way out of her comfort zone without appearing stupid, and her Elven sidekick come translator is a lovely counter to her. They balance each other well despite not being an obvious pairing, and I hope we see them working another case again soon.
There are some lovely comedy moments in here - the concluding scene of the investigation is a genuinely funny moment of descending chaos; oh and Kyree? Excellent. No spoilers as to who or what it is but more Kyree, all the time.
I have no idea what I was expecting coming into this book but I had so much fun with this. I will be coming back to this world for sure.
~ Thanks to NetGalley for granting me the ARC in exchange for an honest review~
March 31, 2026
A crash landing among ice and unfriendly locals sounds like a bad day on the job. Add to that ambassadors from rival, enemy races, sabotage, smuggled surprises - a dead body is just the cherry on the top. But finding the body is only the start.
This was just a lot of fun.
The crash was a clever way to limit the suspects down to a core seven, allowing us to focus on them. Even so, there was a lot to focus on, to learn about. This wasn't just a murder mystery, it was a whole blown fantasy world with warring races, different social levels and so much flavour. Occasionally, it did slip a little into simple brush strokes - the dwarves are all greedy, the naga not to be trusted, the elves were stuck up etc etc but when there is so much to be covered in a short space of time, those kind of mental short cuts that we all know can be accepted.
It also went deep at times, there are strong political undercurrents and murky manoeuvres to what happened on that fateful night. At times a series political motivated thriller, at others, almost slapstick in its humour. Neither side crowded out the other and they worked well.
Our unlikely crime solving duo of Thyria - no nonsense, would like to just smack things until the problem goes away - and her diplomatic, translator were a fun pairing. They started by rubbing each other the wrong way but they worked together brilliantly. I really hope we see more of their crime solving, and this world in general because I would adore another in this series.
~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review~
This was just a lot of fun.
The crash was a clever way to limit the suspects down to a core seven, allowing us to focus on them. Even so, there was a lot to focus on, to learn about. This wasn't just a murder mystery, it was a whole blown fantasy world with warring races, different social levels and so much flavour. Occasionally, it did slip a little into simple brush strokes - the dwarves are all greedy, the naga not to be trusted, the elves were stuck up etc etc but when there is so much to be covered in a short space of time, those kind of mental short cuts that we all know can be accepted.
It also went deep at times, there are strong political undercurrents and murky manoeuvres to what happened on that fateful night. At times a series political motivated thriller, at others, almost slapstick in its humour. Neither side crowded out the other and they worked well.
Our unlikely crime solving duo of Thyria - no nonsense, would like to just smack things until the problem goes away - and her diplomatic, translator were a fun pairing. They started by rubbing each other the wrong way but they worked together brilliantly. I really hope we see more of their crime solving, and this world in general because I would adore another in this series.
~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review~
April 5, 2026
"Murder on the Airship by Victoria Bergman" is a fun murder mystery romp set in a D&D coded world. The story follows a human, Thyria, who is one of many guards on an airship and Variel, an elf who is the ship's translator. After the ship crash lands and they spend a night in hostile territory, a dwarf (I think) passenger is found murdered aboard the ship and another guard is found poisoned. A variety of species, all of whom distrust each other, and all of whom are politically powerful in some way, make up the list of suspects. Thyria, who is a very fun character and I really liked spending time with her, would rather knock heads together to get answers, but is forced to talk to people and be diplomatic instead, so she needs to partner with Variel.
I did find that Variel dragged the book down a bit. His obvious dislike of any other species was grating and the constant assumption with little to no evidence that the Naga was responsible became vey annoying. To be fair, it annoyed Thyria within the story, which also made me like her more. But otherwise, this was an enjoyable murder mystery with magical elements, where the characters needed to move through the suspects, conduct interviews, and follow leads to uncover political intrigue, find the missing crystals, and solve the murder.
Thank you NetGalley and the Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.
I did find that Variel dragged the book down a bit. His obvious dislike of any other species was grating and the constant assumption with little to no evidence that the Naga was responsible became vey annoying. To be fair, it annoyed Thyria within the story, which also made me like her more. But otherwise, this was an enjoyable murder mystery with magical elements, where the characters needed to move through the suspects, conduct interviews, and follow leads to uncover political intrigue, find the missing crystals, and solve the murder.
Thank you NetGalley and the Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.
March 26, 2026
Murder on the Airship by Victoria Bergman - I loved this Steampunk Fantasy Mystery! Victoria created an amazing main character, Thyria, as well as a host of great supporting characters! Each political group/faction was perfectly fleshed out with just a few well chosen sentences and interactions. The steampunk/engineering aspects were both integral to the plot and straightforward/real enough to be believable. The pacing was great; fast enough that I was engaged the entire time, with natural pauses in the action so I didn’t burn out. The mystery itself was well thought out, and the solution fit with every clue collected and all of the action throughout the book. While the stakes were high, the story felt lighthearted and cozy, with a few laugh out loud parts.
This is Victoria Bergman’s debut novel, and I’m looking forward to reading what she creates next!
Thank you to Victoria Bergman for the advanced reader copy!
Notes
-Limited 3rd person POV
-Minor violence, brief mention of blood
This is Victoria Bergman’s debut novel, and I’m looking forward to reading what she creates next!
Thank you to Victoria Bergman for the advanced reader copy!
Notes
-Limited 3rd person POV
-Minor violence, brief mention of blood
May 14, 2026
I normally am solidly in the fantasy romance or romantasy genre for books, but I decided to branch out a bit and read a fantasy murder mystery. I have to say for my first foray, it was quite enjoyable!
Thyria was a great protagonist. Her snark was fun to read and not overdone. I immediately got the feeling from her that she was competent at her job, but not looking for extra responsibilities. So when she was assigned to solve the mystery of the murder, it was funny to see how she dragged her feet a bit.
I felt like the mystery of the murder was very well-written! I had several thoughts on how it had shaken out, and Bergman kept me guessing with each of her characters. The passengers on the airship were all really well-fleshed out, and I enjoyed the scenes with the crew of the airship as well. I appreciated how everything was wrapped up after all of the twists and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op, and Stonehenge Circle Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thyria was a great protagonist. Her snark was fun to read and not overdone. I immediately got the feeling from her that she was competent at her job, but not looking for extra responsibilities. So when she was assigned to solve the mystery of the murder, it was funny to see how she dragged her feet a bit.
I felt like the mystery of the murder was very well-written! I had several thoughts on how it had shaken out, and Bergman kept me guessing with each of her characters. The passengers on the airship were all really well-fleshed out, and I enjoyed the scenes with the crew of the airship as well. I appreciated how everything was wrapped up after all of the twists and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op, and Stonehenge Circle Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
April 5, 2026
Book Review
Murder on the Airship by Victoria Bergman
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op | Stonehenge Circle Press thank you for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I loved this and so did my little ones it was like a game of clue and that's exactly what we did. We had a whole white board with our theories and evidence it was so much fun and my kids loved it and the book. None of us was correct unfortunately but we still had a blast guessing who the killer was.
Who would even want to try and pull off a murder on an airship, there is literally nowhere to run??
#MurderontheAirship #NetGalley
Murder on the Airship by Victoria Bergman
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op | Stonehenge Circle Press thank you for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I loved this and so did my little ones it was like a game of clue and that's exactly what we did. We had a whole white board with our theories and evidence it was so much fun and my kids loved it and the book. None of us was correct unfortunately but we still had a blast guessing who the killer was.
Who would even want to try and pull off a murder on an airship, there is literally nowhere to run??
#MurderontheAirship #NetGalley
March 15, 2026
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the eARC.
This was a fun and engaging murder mystery with an interesting fantasy twist. The setup gave me strong classic mystery vibes similar to Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile, with a contained group of suspects and plenty of secrets to uncover.
The story keeps the tension going as the mystery unfolds, and the fantasy elements add a fresh layer to the traditional whodunit structure. It is always enjoyable to see familiar mystery tropes combined with something a little different.
While some character motivations could have been explored a bit more, the central mystery kept me invested and entertained throughout.
Overall, an enjoyable read for fans of classic style murder mysteries with a fantasy touch. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
This was a fun and engaging murder mystery with an interesting fantasy twist. The setup gave me strong classic mystery vibes similar to Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile, with a contained group of suspects and plenty of secrets to uncover.
The story keeps the tension going as the mystery unfolds, and the fantasy elements add a fresh layer to the traditional whodunit structure. It is always enjoyable to see familiar mystery tropes combined with something a little different.
While some character motivations could have been explored a bit more, the central mystery kept me invested and entertained throughout.
Overall, an enjoyable read for fans of classic style murder mysteries with a fantasy touch. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
April 29, 2026
Murder on the Airship by Victoria Bergman is an interesting tale of a murder, suspects which include elves, nagas, dwarves, pixies and a dragon. Thyria, the ships security officer tasked with finding the murderer of a dwarf passenger without offending any of the above passengers, bumbles her way through with the help of a dubious elf assigned to help her. This is a fun, interesting story and a well written description of many different cultures. I can't wait to see what is next in store for Thyria.
March 11, 2026
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Victoria Bergman for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Murder on the Airship coming out March 12, 2026. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I love cozy mysteries. I loved the airship setting. It was good. I would check out more books by this author.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I love cozy mysteries. I loved the airship setting. It was good. I would check out more books by this author.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews