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COMPARTIMENT TUEURS
Quand vous prenez une couchette dans un train de nuit, méfiez-vous des rencontres. Quand on retrouve une femme étranglée dans votre compartiment, méfiez-vous de vos voisins. Quand on supprime un à un tous vos voisins, méfiez-vous tout court.
Si vous n'êtes pas vous-même l'assassin, c'est embêtant !
Si vous n'êtes pas vous-même l'assassin, c'est embêtant !
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
19 people are currently reading
620 people want to read
About the author
Sébastien Japrisot
48 books142 followersSébastien Japrisot was a French author, screenwriter and film director, born in Marseille. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name. Japrisot has been nicknamed "the Graham Greene of France".
Famous in the Francophony, he was little known in the English-speaking world, though a number of his novels have been translated into English and have been made into films.
His first novel, Les mal partis was written at the age of 16 and published under his real name (see also author profile of Jean-Baptiste Rossi).
Famous in the Francophony, he was little known in the English-speaking world, though a number of his novels have been translated into English and have been made into films.
His first novel, Les mal partis was written at the age of 16 and published under his real name (see also author profile of Jean-Baptiste Rossi).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
November 3, 2021
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: This is the first published crime novel from the late monadnock of French thriller writers, seeing the light of day in 1962...sixty years ago! I'd expected to be eye-rollingly impatient with the sexual politics...I was...and to find the motive for the title crime absurd...I sort-of did...and generally to find the read a pleasant time capsule but not one I could recommend.
Wrong on that score.
What Author Japrisot, ably served by Translator Price, achieved was a smartly paced and charmingly observed crime novel. I want to be clear, though, that the attitude towards women and their sexuality isn't within 21st-century best practices. I don't have a positive thing to say about that, and no, I don't want to shrug it off by saying "it's of its time." I think the way to frame the attitudes that makes me least irritably impatient is to think of this as a cautionary tale...a dead, or at least dying, set of stupid and wrong-headed ways of seeing people that has very directly contributed to terrible crimes.
What sticks with me the most is the sheer, idiotic nihilism of the crimes committed, and for such idiotic reasons. There are no excuses, of course, but the reason someone deprives another person of life...the one and only thing that can't be made good or replaced when it's taken...should always at least make some twisted kind of sense. Here, though, there is nothing, not a grain of a comprehensible motive. Like those thrill-killing boys, Leopold and Loeb.
I was utterly unable to put this debut crime novel, first published in 1962, down. It's not like a modern crime novel. There's no bloat; there's very little dialogue. The whole story's narrated, in a kind of distancing tactic, a lot like the voiceover narration of Double Indemnity, albeit it isn't the same narrator. Just the strategy, the way of telling that makes it feel like showing. And, in the end, the framing device works very, very well for the final summation of the crime.
Japrisot wasn't a hugely productive writer, having written a dozen fiction works of different lengths between 1950 and 1999. He translated works by Salinger, among others, into French; he worked in the advertising industry; he was, in short, a jobbing writer with a gift for economical storytelling. His strength lay in constructing the angle of repose for his story; he knew the slightest shift in perspective would destroy the equilibrium that a work of fiction relies on. When the shift inevitably occurs, the entire story flows out of its resting state and becomes something entirely other, a new resting state that doesn't resemble the constructed story but is all the same colors and most of the same shapes.
It is a pure pleasure to read this level of craftsmanship. By all means procure it and enjoy it for all its afternoon-filling worth.
My Review: This is the first published crime novel from the late monadnock of French thriller writers, seeing the light of day in 1962...sixty years ago! I'd expected to be eye-rollingly impatient with the sexual politics...I was...and to find the motive for the title crime absurd...I sort-of did...and generally to find the read a pleasant time capsule but not one I could recommend.
Wrong on that score.
What Author Japrisot, ably served by Translator Price, achieved was a smartly paced and charmingly observed crime novel. I want to be clear, though, that the attitude towards women and their sexuality isn't within 21st-century best practices. I don't have a positive thing to say about that, and no, I don't want to shrug it off by saying "it's of its time." I think the way to frame the attitudes that makes me least irritably impatient is to think of this as a cautionary tale...a dead, or at least dying, set of stupid and wrong-headed ways of seeing people that has very directly contributed to terrible crimes.
What sticks with me the most is the sheer, idiotic nihilism of the crimes committed, and for such idiotic reasons. There are no excuses, of course, but the reason someone deprives another person of life...the one and only thing that can't be made good or replaced when it's taken...should always at least make some twisted kind of sense. Here, though, there is nothing, not a grain of a comprehensible motive. Like those thrill-killing boys, Leopold and Loeb.
I was utterly unable to put this debut crime novel, first published in 1962, down. It's not like a modern crime novel. There's no bloat; there's very little dialogue. The whole story's narrated, in a kind of distancing tactic, a lot like the voiceover narration of Double Indemnity, albeit it isn't the same narrator. Just the strategy, the way of telling that makes it feel like showing. And, in the end, the framing device works very, very well for the final summation of the crime.
Japrisot wasn't a hugely productive writer, having written a dozen fiction works of different lengths between 1950 and 1999. He translated works by Salinger, among others, into French; he worked in the advertising industry; he was, in short, a jobbing writer with a gift for economical storytelling. His strength lay in constructing the angle of repose for his story; he knew the slightest shift in perspective would destroy the equilibrium that a work of fiction relies on. When the shift inevitably occurs, the entire story flows out of its resting state and becomes something entirely other, a new resting state that doesn't resemble the constructed story but is all the same colors and most of the same shapes.
It is a pure pleasure to read this level of craftsmanship. By all means procure it and enjoy it for all its afternoon-filling worth.
June 12, 2023
[7/10]
... it was a regular merry-go-round’
‘A what?’
‘A merry-go-round. You know, those toys you wind up, with animals that turn around and look as if they’re chasing each other. A carousel. I was running after someone, and he was running after me. At least, that’s what I thought, but I was wrong.’
I get the feeling Sebastien Japrisot is still finding his voice in this debut novel that seems undecided if it wants to be a Georges Simenon character study or an Agatha Christie whodunit. Yet there are clear signs of the talent that will elevate his later novels above genre conventions, a particular literary voice that will have no need of comparisons with other well-known writers. I have read A Very Long Engagement before this one, and the quality improvement is rather evident for me, as is Japrisot’s deft hand at characterization.
The compartment of murderers, as the original case if referenced in the French original, belongs to the early morning express train arriving from Marseille to Gare de Lyon in Paris. It’s a sleep-over coach, with six beds in a compartment and one of those beds if found afterwards to contain the body of a woman, strangled before she could leave the train herself.
Inspector Grazziani of the Paris police is complaining of the flu, yet he is assigned the investigation by his boss, le commisaire Tarquin, a specialist at delegating responsibility in unpleasant cases.
And this case smells pretty bad, even through the clogged nostrils of Grazzi.
Grazziani and his young partner take the usual police procedural steps, identifying the victim and the other occupants of the deadly compartment, making lists and interviewing the witnesses and the relatives of the victim, as they can get their hands on them.
Only problem is, somebody else is chasing after the witnesses, not for an interview, but to eliminate them with a deadly weapon equipped with a silencer and with dum dum bullets.
Grazziani and his team start to wonder if somebody is playing them for fools. How could the serial killer get to their witnesses before the police? And what have these people seen that is so important to keep quiet?
>>><<<>>><<<
Japrisot switches effortlessly from one point of view to another: the real attraction of the novel for me turned out to be not the identity of the perpetrator, or his motive, but the glimpse into the lives of these ordinary people that came together by accident on a night journey across France: a repressed forty-years old bachelor, a car mechanic, a has-been actress, a beautiful woman of loose morals that sells perfumes, a cheating wife, a young country girl going to her first secretarial work in the big metropolis, a runaway boy from a seminary, etc.
There is nothing linking them, yet inspector Grazziani, nicknamed Monsieur Holmes by his annoying boss, must somehow stop this crazy merry-go-round before another victim is added to the list.
>>><<<>>><<<
I did find the plot to be more than a little contrived, relying too much on an obvious red herring and a convenient coincidence to muddle the waters
On the other hand, I really liked the romantic interludes of the two young innocent people caught in the web of a psychopath: Besides, as soon as you accept the idea of killing someone, the number of people you kill becomes unimportant. I still think that.
Best result of my lecture is that after finishing the novel, I could watch the Costa Gavras movie from 1965 which was waiting in my library for a couple of years. With a script written by the same Japrisot who streamlines his own material, with great black & white cinematography, and with the ‘creme de la creme’ of French actors available, the movie made an even better impression than the book.
The cast is led by an incredibly weary and disillusioned Yves Montand and by a memorable Simone Signoret. Catherine Allegret and Jacques Perrin are well chosen as the pair of young lovers, as is Jean-Louis Trintignant as a slippery seducer.
I plan to continue both reading Japrisot and watching his movie adaptations, although I’m already ahead of the curve, cinema-wise, after recently viewing ‘L‘ete meurtriere’ and ‘Le passager de la pluie’.
Final note: life beats fiction for murder cases, according to the French wiki:
13 ans après, pendant l'hiver 1978-79, une histoire vraie, celle d'Alain Lamare, va présenter de troublantes similitudes envers le thème principal du film
... it was a regular merry-go-round’
‘A what?’
‘A merry-go-round. You know, those toys you wind up, with animals that turn around and look as if they’re chasing each other. A carousel. I was running after someone, and he was running after me. At least, that’s what I thought, but I was wrong.’
I get the feeling Sebastien Japrisot is still finding his voice in this debut novel that seems undecided if it wants to be a Georges Simenon character study or an Agatha Christie whodunit. Yet there are clear signs of the talent that will elevate his later novels above genre conventions, a particular literary voice that will have no need of comparisons with other well-known writers. I have read A Very Long Engagement before this one, and the quality improvement is rather evident for me, as is Japrisot’s deft hand at characterization.
The compartment of murderers, as the original case if referenced in the French original, belongs to the early morning express train arriving from Marseille to Gare de Lyon in Paris. It’s a sleep-over coach, with six beds in a compartment and one of those beds if found afterwards to contain the body of a woman, strangled before she could leave the train herself.
Inspector Grazziani of the Paris police is complaining of the flu, yet he is assigned the investigation by his boss, le commisaire Tarquin, a specialist at delegating responsibility in unpleasant cases.
And this case smells pretty bad, even through the clogged nostrils of Grazzi.
Grazziani and his young partner take the usual police procedural steps, identifying the victim and the other occupants of the deadly compartment, making lists and interviewing the witnesses and the relatives of the victim, as they can get their hands on them.
Only problem is, somebody else is chasing after the witnesses, not for an interview, but to eliminate them with a deadly weapon equipped with a silencer and with dum dum bullets.
Grazziani and his team start to wonder if somebody is playing them for fools. How could the serial killer get to their witnesses before the police? And what have these people seen that is so important to keep quiet?
>>><<<>>><<<
Japrisot switches effortlessly from one point of view to another: the real attraction of the novel for me turned out to be not the identity of the perpetrator, or his motive, but the glimpse into the lives of these ordinary people that came together by accident on a night journey across France: a repressed forty-years old bachelor, a car mechanic, a has-been actress, a beautiful woman of loose morals that sells perfumes, a cheating wife, a young country girl going to her first secretarial work in the big metropolis, a runaway boy from a seminary, etc.
There is nothing linking them, yet inspector Grazziani, nicknamed Monsieur Holmes by his annoying boss, must somehow stop this crazy merry-go-round before another victim is added to the list.
>>><<<>>><<<
I did find the plot to be more than a little contrived, relying too much on an obvious red herring and a convenient coincidence to muddle the waters
On the other hand, I really liked the romantic interludes of the two young innocent people caught in the web of a psychopath: Besides, as soon as you accept the idea of killing someone, the number of people you kill becomes unimportant. I still think that.
Best result of my lecture is that after finishing the novel, I could watch the Costa Gavras movie from 1965 which was waiting in my library for a couple of years. With a script written by the same Japrisot who streamlines his own material, with great black & white cinematography, and with the ‘creme de la creme’ of French actors available, the movie made an even better impression than the book.
The cast is led by an incredibly weary and disillusioned Yves Montand and by a memorable Simone Signoret. Catherine Allegret and Jacques Perrin are well chosen as the pair of young lovers, as is Jean-Louis Trintignant as a slippery seducer.
I plan to continue both reading Japrisot and watching his movie adaptations, although I’m already ahead of the curve, cinema-wise, after recently viewing ‘L‘ete meurtriere’ and ‘Le passager de la pluie’.
Final note: life beats fiction for murder cases, according to the French wiki:
13 ans après, pendant l'hiver 1978-79, une histoire vraie, celle d'Alain Lamare, va présenter de troublantes similitudes envers le thème principal du film
May 12, 2023
Japrisot, known in America mainly for his final novel A Very Long Engagement, was a French writer who also worked in advertising and the film industry; this novel (AKA The Sleeping Car Murders) was his first of several crime thrillers he wrote in the 1960s when he found himself owing a large sum of back taxes. The plot - a woman is found dead in a sleeping car of a train from Marseille - begins to get a bit too convoluted in the later stages, confounded greatly by a bizarre preponderance of "G" names, such as Grazziani, Gabert (which may also be confused with Cabourg), Grandin, Garaudy, and of course the dead woman herself, Georgette. Good grief!
January 19, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2015
No soporté cómo estaba escrito. Muy desordenado, confuso, y encima los protagonistas están muy mal desarrollados. Solo con un personaje llegué a sentir algo, pero muere en las primeras páginas. La historia estaba buena, es una lástima que esté narrado todo tan horrible.
August 7, 2020
Murder mystery set in FRANCE
The ‘Phocéen’ overnight train arrives in Paris from Marseille. In one sleeping car, with berths 221-226, a woman has been found strangled. The investigating team now have to track down the other people who shared the compartment.
Importantly, the police need to find out more about the life that the murdered woman, Georgette Thomas, led. Is it usual for a woman to sew a “G” for Georgette into every item of clothing? Might she have had more than her fair share of lovers? Questions to ponder, indeed!
René Cabourg, who occupied Berth 226, just happens to see an announcement in the paper, where the police are asking for information and for the travellers on the train to make themselves known. He gets in touch.
As the story moves from one passenger to the next, we can see that the police – and specifically headed up by Pierre Grazziano (known as Grazzi) – always seem to be one step behind the killer and more deaths occur along the way. It is truly like a murderous domino effect with quirky investigating officers trying to hunt down the murderer. Can they succeed?
The author lays out the trajectory of the story with aplomb and grace. There are astute observations of people and place. I thought the ending was a little complex, rushing to bring all the threads together. It is a short novel that has been well translated and is overall a pleasure to read. You could be in no doubt that this was originally penned by a French author!
The ‘Phocéen’ overnight train arrives in Paris from Marseille. In one sleeping car, with berths 221-226, a woman has been found strangled. The investigating team now have to track down the other people who shared the compartment.
Importantly, the police need to find out more about the life that the murdered woman, Georgette Thomas, led. Is it usual for a woman to sew a “G” for Georgette into every item of clothing? Might she have had more than her fair share of lovers? Questions to ponder, indeed!
René Cabourg, who occupied Berth 226, just happens to see an announcement in the paper, where the police are asking for information and for the travellers on the train to make themselves known. He gets in touch.
As the story moves from one passenger to the next, we can see that the police – and specifically headed up by Pierre Grazziano (known as Grazzi) – always seem to be one step behind the killer and more deaths occur along the way. It is truly like a murderous domino effect with quirky investigating officers trying to hunt down the murderer. Can they succeed?
The author lays out the trajectory of the story with aplomb and grace. There are astute observations of people and place. I thought the ending was a little complex, rushing to bring all the threads together. It is a short novel that has been well translated and is overall a pleasure to read. You could be in no doubt that this was originally penned by a French author!
June 10, 2008
I found this book in an English bookstore in Berlin, and although the sexy cover (which you can't see, sorry...) and description won me over, I had never heard of Sebastian Japrisot, and so didn't take the opportunity to pick up the three or four other titles (published in the UK) that were also on the shelf. Now I wish I had, because The 10:30 from Marseilles was really a gem.
The scene--a beautiful woman is found strangled in the title train--is set quickly and cleanly in the first few pages. A quirky detective team--the type that you might expect to see on a particularly well-written 'Law and Order' type of show--is called in to investigate. But no matter how quickly they act on clues and leads, they always seem to be one step behind their killer, who has taken to systematically offing all of the other people who traveled in the same train compartment as the victim.
Call me morbid, but I find the structure of domino-style murder books incredibly satisfying. Once a readership knows that it's only a matter of pages before the next death occurs, the stakes are automatically heightened. Throw in a few beleaguered detectives, some unwilling witnesses (future victims), and any number of sub-plots, and you have yourself a winning read.
The 10:30 is no exception to this formula, and even ups the ante by giving the majority of the characters (even incidental ones) well-rounded, sympathetic personalities. Japrisot notices the nervous ticks and self conscious gestures, and the subtle weaknesses and endearing eccentricities that make characters seem really human (and, coincidentally, make us sorry to see them die). He doesn't seem restricted by any of the characters he presents either, but embodies his lonely, aging actresses, blase, lady-killer policemen, teenage lovers, and jaded, cynical detectives with the same aplomb.
My one quibble--and this is very minor considering that this was Japrisot's first novel--is with the ending. The 10:30 ends in a bit of a whirlwind, wrapping things up with a sort of wacky twist ending that actually could have worked well, if only it weren't revealed in such a convoluted fashion. After all the characters have been so well developed and the pacing handled so efficiently, it's frustrating to see new, rather two-dimensional figures come out of the nowhere, and have so little explanation as to what actually happened that it feels like the reader may have missed a few pages. However, as what really matters here is not so much the solution to the crime, but the process of its revelation, these things don't really damage The 10:30's overall effect.
The scene--a beautiful woman is found strangled in the title train--is set quickly and cleanly in the first few pages. A quirky detective team--the type that you might expect to see on a particularly well-written 'Law and Order' type of show--is called in to investigate. But no matter how quickly they act on clues and leads, they always seem to be one step behind their killer, who has taken to systematically offing all of the other people who traveled in the same train compartment as the victim.
Call me morbid, but I find the structure of domino-style murder books incredibly satisfying. Once a readership knows that it's only a matter of pages before the next death occurs, the stakes are automatically heightened. Throw in a few beleaguered detectives, some unwilling witnesses (future victims), and any number of sub-plots, and you have yourself a winning read.
The 10:30 is no exception to this formula, and even ups the ante by giving the majority of the characters (even incidental ones) well-rounded, sympathetic personalities. Japrisot notices the nervous ticks and self conscious gestures, and the subtle weaknesses and endearing eccentricities that make characters seem really human (and, coincidentally, make us sorry to see them die). He doesn't seem restricted by any of the characters he presents either, but embodies his lonely, aging actresses, blase, lady-killer policemen, teenage lovers, and jaded, cynical detectives with the same aplomb.
My one quibble--and this is very minor considering that this was Japrisot's first novel--is with the ending. The 10:30 ends in a bit of a whirlwind, wrapping things up with a sort of wacky twist ending that actually could have worked well, if only it weren't revealed in such a convoluted fashion. After all the characters have been so well developed and the pacing handled so efficiently, it's frustrating to see new, rather two-dimensional figures come out of the nowhere, and have so little explanation as to what actually happened that it feels like the reader may have missed a few pages. However, as what really matters here is not so much the solution to the crime, but the process of its revelation, these things don't really damage The 10:30's overall effect.
October 10, 2021
My first by this particular author and I can honestly say that I really enjoyed this French mystery.
Having expanded my reading to authors scattered far and wide, writing about their own countries, and all with their own distinctive style, I was able to quite easily adapt to this author's style of writing. It would be imprudent of the reader to assume that all author's write the same - and much also comes down to the quality of the translation.
I was initially drawn to this particular tome as it put me in mind of Agatha Christie - which is no bad thing. The premise is quite simple - a woman is murdered on an overnight train travelling from Marseille to Paris; the suspects are narrowed down to those who shared the sleeping coach with her; the police investigate; a motive and killer are eventually revealed and the mystery is solved. Simple - maybe; interestingly formatted - very much so (see below).
This could fall under the auspices of a "police procedural" novel - as we follow Detective Pierre Grazziano (or "Grazzi" to use the nickname he is often referred by) and his offsider, Gaubert. Each of the passengers is duly investigated to check for connection or motive - and one by one they are .... eliminated. It seems that Grazzi is always that one step behind but eventually there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I really enjoyed the narrative and the format - each chapter heading was the berth number of each of the passengers. We get a real sense of their lives as Grazzi and Gaubert dig into their backgrounds, and discover more about the victim herself.
As I mentioned, I really did enjoy this and love expanding my reading beyond the standard UK and US offerings, exploring how other writers present similar mysteries on their own patch!
Having expanded my reading to authors scattered far and wide, writing about their own countries, and all with their own distinctive style, I was able to quite easily adapt to this author's style of writing. It would be imprudent of the reader to assume that all author's write the same - and much also comes down to the quality of the translation.
I was initially drawn to this particular tome as it put me in mind of Agatha Christie - which is no bad thing. The premise is quite simple - a woman is murdered on an overnight train travelling from Marseille to Paris; the suspects are narrowed down to those who shared the sleeping coach with her; the police investigate; a motive and killer are eventually revealed and the mystery is solved. Simple - maybe; interestingly formatted - very much so (see below).
This could fall under the auspices of a "police procedural" novel - as we follow Detective Pierre Grazziano (or "Grazzi" to use the nickname he is often referred by) and his offsider, Gaubert. Each of the passengers is duly investigated to check for connection or motive - and one by one they are .... eliminated. It seems that Grazzi is always that one step behind but eventually there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I really enjoyed the narrative and the format - each chapter heading was the berth number of each of the passengers. We get a real sense of their lives as Grazzi and Gaubert dig into their backgrounds, and discover more about the victim herself.
As I mentioned, I really did enjoy this and love expanding my reading beyond the standard UK and US offerings, exploring how other writers present similar mysteries on their own patch!
March 17, 2018
This was my second Sebastian Japrisot book and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. Makes me wonder how many of the rest of his books have been translated into English. Because he knows how to spin a tale.
August 8, 2020
What you think might be a straight forward 'whodunnit' soon becomes an absorbing and twisty tale as you try and second guess just exactly what did happen on that train when a young woman is found murdered. She'd been strangled and there are very few clues around so the case facing Det Pierre Grazziano is anything but straightforward!
I loved the setting and the process that the Detective goes through to try and work out the happenings on that overnight train. He has to interview passengers who were on the train and work through their recollections of the murder victim - any tiny piece of information can help him try and make sense of it all and you're taken along for the ride as he tries to put all the pieces together.
His investigation is hindered by more murders and I love how the story takes you down one path before throwing another curveball your way to muddy the waters! It's only a short book as well and I'm amazed at the depth of plot that was allowed to be explored!
A twisty, dark thriller and I loved it!
I loved the setting and the process that the Detective goes through to try and work out the happenings on that overnight train. He has to interview passengers who were on the train and work through their recollections of the murder victim - any tiny piece of information can help him try and make sense of it all and you're taken along for the ride as he tries to put all the pieces together.
His investigation is hindered by more murders and I love how the story takes you down one path before throwing another curveball your way to muddy the waters! It's only a short book as well and I'm amazed at the depth of plot that was allowed to be explored!
A twisty, dark thriller and I loved it!
November 5, 2022
When the Marseille express arrived in Paris, all of the passengers got off but one. The pretty young divorcee Georgette Thomas remained behind, sprawled across her sleeping berth. There were marks of strangulation on her neck and a broken faux pearl necklace at her feet. Her killer had struck swiftly and efficiently, committing the murder while the railroad clean-up man had a quick cup of coffee before checking the compartments once the passengers disembarked. The police are called in and the task of tracking down compartment killer is given to Pierre Emile Grazziano, "Grazzi." It seems that robbery was not the motive because all of her money was still in her purse.
In order to find out more about Georgette Thomas, Grazzi and his men begin looking for her relatives and friends, as well as the other five passengers who occupied the other berths in the sleeping car. The police hope that the others in the compartment may have seen or heard something that will help point to a motive, if not to the killer him/herself. Apparently the killer is worried the other passengers have something to tell the police because as fast (or faster) as Grazzi's team locates them, they begin dying as well--all shot with the same gun. Will Grazzi find his way to the solution before all of his potential witnesses are murdered?
This was a very mixed bag. The opening was good. I liked the way Japrisot framed the investigation--following each passenger from the train to the end of their participation in the plot (either from the killer's bullet or otherwise...). I appreciated the reworking of a Christie plot. Japrisot's version had a lot of potential. Grazzi is an interesting and sympathetic lead investigator--one really sympathizes with the exasperation he feels at his superior's behavior. But--and this is a very large but--the ending leaves a lot to be desired. It feels very rushed for one thing. And implausible. And very much like we pulled a motive out of the air--even though I did have some suspicions about one of those involved. Not to mention I just don't believe in the connections made between several of the characters. I don't know if something was lost in translation, but I was very lost in the wrap-up. And don't get me started on the teenager playing amateur detective and somehow being ahead of the police.
I'm going to give this ★★★, but almost entirely for the first half or so of the book. A terrific set-up and initial investigation that just doesn't live up to its promise.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
In order to find out more about Georgette Thomas, Grazzi and his men begin looking for her relatives and friends, as well as the other five passengers who occupied the other berths in the sleeping car. The police hope that the others in the compartment may have seen or heard something that will help point to a motive, if not to the killer him/herself. Apparently the killer is worried the other passengers have something to tell the police because as fast (or faster) as Grazzi's team locates them, they begin dying as well--all shot with the same gun. Will Grazzi find his way to the solution before all of his potential witnesses are murdered?
This was a very mixed bag. The opening was good. I liked the way Japrisot framed the investigation--following each passenger from the train to the end of their participation in the plot (either from the killer's bullet or otherwise...). I appreciated the reworking of a Christie plot. Japrisot's version had a lot of potential. Grazzi is an interesting and sympathetic lead investigator--one really sympathizes with the exasperation he feels at his superior's behavior. But--and this is a very large but--the ending leaves a lot to be desired. It feels very rushed for one thing. And implausible. And very much like we pulled a motive out of the air--even though I did have some suspicions about one of those involved. Not to mention I just don't believe in the connections made between several of the characters. I don't know if something was lost in translation, but I was very lost in the wrap-up. And don't get me started on the teenager playing amateur detective and somehow being ahead of the police.
I'm going to give this ★★★, but almost entirely for the first half or so of the book. A terrific set-up and initial investigation that just doesn't live up to its promise.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
April 10, 2022
Un detectiv cam haotic. Pe de o parte, există o premisă nebanală cu un complot într-o cameră încuiată. Da, cercul suspecților este limitat de la bun început, dar există nuanțe. Finalul a fost neașteptat pentru mine. Dar rareori îl ghicesc pe ucigaș în poveștile polițiste, așa că nu am fost surprinsă. Ceea ce m-a supărat mai mult a fost complotul săritor - la un moment dat, după aproximativ trei sferturi din carte, narațiunea care se desfășura înainte fără probleme ia brusc o întorsătură și se grăbește spre final, grăbită să arunce cât mai multe detalii asupra cititorului. Dar ceea ce este cu siguranță bun la Japrisot este psihologismul. Toate personajele sunt atent desenate, dezvoltate și explicate. Citirea capitolelor despre fiecare dintre pasageri a fost cea mai interesantă parte pentru mine. Este păcat că autorul a terminat rapid această parte și a sărit la final.
Am privit și ecranizarea din 1965 și a fost chiar interesant :)
Am privit și ecranizarea din 1965 și a fost chiar interesant :)
September 10, 2025
Το πρώτο μυθιστόρημα του Sebastien Japrisot -και το μοναδικό του που έχω διαβάσει- γράφτηκε όταν ο συγγραφέας ήταν 31 ετών (είναι το πρώτο μιας σειράς αστυνομικών θρίλερ που εξέδωσε τη δεκαετία του 1960, για να αποπληρώσει ένα ογκώδες ποσό οφειλόμενων φόρων), σε καμία περίπτωση όμως δεν θα νιώσει ο αναγνώστης πως διαβάζει ένα πρωτόλειο. Παρότι η εξέλιξη της πλοκής είναι σε σημεία περίπλοκη, το κείμενο είναι δομημένο με έξυπνο τρόπο, οι χαρακτήρες άρτιοι (ο καθένας έχει τη δική του φωνή, ενώ οι σκέψεις του αφηγητή παρεμβάλλονται σε πρώτο πρόσωπο) ενώ ο Japrisot έχει κατακτήσει από τόσο νωρίς ένα καθαρά προσωπικό στυλ αφήγησης.
Μια πανέμορφη γυναίκα βρίσκεται στραγγαλισμένη στο τρένο και μια ιδιόρρυθμη ομάδα ντετέκτιβ -αστυνομικών καλείται να διαλευκάνει την υπόθεση. Όσο κι αν προσπαθούν όμως να ακολουθήσουν γρήγορα τα ίχνη και τα στοιχεία που έχουν στα χέρια τους βρίσκονται πάντα ένα βήμα πίσω από τον δολοφόνο, ο οποίος "βγάζει από τη μέση" συστηματικά έναν έναν τους συνταξιδιώτες που μοιράστηκαν το ίδιο κουπέ με την άτυχη καλλονή.
Αφού διάβασα το μυθιστόρημα (κάπου στα μέσα Ιουλίου), είδαμε την ταινία του "δικού μας" Κώστα Γαβρά με τίτλο Compartiment tueurs (1965) που αποτελεί μεταφορά του έργου στη μεγάλη οθόνη. Η πλοκή είναι αρκετά πιστή στο μυθιστόρημα, αλλά η αφήγηση είναι πιο γραμμική -και άρα πιο εύκολη για τον θεατή. Η κύρια διαφορά είναι το τέλος, το οποίο οφείλω να επισημάνω πως στην ταινία είναι σαφώς πιο εντυπωσιακό.
Μια πανέμορφη γυναίκα βρίσκεται στραγγαλισμένη στο τρένο και μια ιδιόρρυθμη ομάδα ντετέκτιβ -αστυνομικών καλείται να διαλευκάνει την υπόθεση. Όσο κι αν προσπαθούν όμως να ακολουθήσουν γρήγορα τα ίχνη και τα στοιχεία που έχουν στα χέρια τους βρίσκονται πάντα ένα βήμα πίσω από τον δολοφόνο, ο οποίος "βγάζει από τη μέση" συστηματικά έναν έναν τους συνταξιδιώτες που μοιράστηκαν το ίδιο κουπέ με την άτυχη καλλονή.
Αφού διάβασα το μυθιστόρημα (κάπου στα μέσα Ιουλίου), είδαμε την ταινία του "δικού μας" Κώστα Γαβρά με τίτλο Compartiment tueurs (1965) που αποτελεί μεταφορά του έργου στη μεγάλη οθόνη. Η πλοκή είναι αρκετά πιστή στο μυθιστόρημα, αλλά η αφήγηση είναι πιο γραμμική -και άρα πιο εύκολη για τον θεατή. Η κύρια διαφορά είναι το τέλος, το οποίο οφείλω να επισημάνω πως στην ταινία είναι σαφώς πιο εντυπωσιακό.
April 5, 2023
Set in the early 1960s, this evokes a sophisticated sense of tension and considerable intrigue, which begins with a woman’s corpse found on a train that just arrived in Paris from Marseille.
The attractive woman, who has been strangled in the sleeping car, seems to have lived the high-life, with expensive monogrammed possessions, and wealthy male suitors.
For a while it takes the pattern of a police procedural, albeit a smart one. But as it proceeds, it is clear that it is more than that, as it digs deep into each of its key characters and infiltrates their thoughts.
There is a self-conscious and vulnerable actress, a lonely bachelor, and teenage lovers who meet on the train, then flee, worried that they will become the killer’s next victims. Add to that on overworked detective, Pierre “Grazzi” Grazziano, trying to balance family life with the demands of the job, with a Corsican assistant, who therefore has a whole different network of informants.
The backdrop of Paris’s vibrant streets, its cafes and bars, make this into a very enjoyable few hours.
The attractive woman, who has been strangled in the sleeping car, seems to have lived the high-life, with expensive monogrammed possessions, and wealthy male suitors.
For a while it takes the pattern of a police procedural, albeit a smart one. But as it proceeds, it is clear that it is more than that, as it digs deep into each of its key characters and infiltrates their thoughts.
There is a self-conscious and vulnerable actress, a lonely bachelor, and teenage lovers who meet on the train, then flee, worried that they will become the killer’s next victims. Add to that on overworked detective, Pierre “Grazzi” Grazziano, trying to balance family life with the demands of the job, with a Corsican assistant, who therefore has a whole different network of informants.
The backdrop of Paris’s vibrant streets, its cafes and bars, make this into a very enjoyable few hours.
March 24, 2010
About 10 pages in to this book, I wasn't sure that I would like it. It starts with the discovery of a woman's body on the train. The police arrive to investigate. Then the writer starts referring to the investigating detective as "the man they called Grazzi." They called him Grazzi? Either that's his name or it's not. A small point of style, but I was afraid that there would be more little things like that that would just bug me. As I got into the book, however, the writer stopped referring to the detective in that way, I got caught up in the story, and I had no more problems.
As I said, the book begins with the discovery of a murdered woman on a train. The police have a list of the passengers in that car and start there. But one by one, their suspects/witnesses are murdered. What is going on? Will they catch the killer before everyone is dead?
I will admit that I guessed the murderer before the end, but I was lost as to why or how the crimes were committed. I wound up really enjoying this one. I haven't read others by this author, and since this is an old book, I'm not sure how easy it would be to find more by him. But I liked this one and I recommend it. Mine has an especially ugly cover - train tracks leading up to strange head - but ignore the cover, don't let the first chapter get to you, and give the book a try.
As I said, the book begins with the discovery of a murdered woman on a train. The police have a list of the passengers in that car and start there. But one by one, their suspects/witnesses are murdered. What is going on? Will they catch the killer before everyone is dead?
I will admit that I guessed the murderer before the end, but I was lost as to why or how the crimes were committed. I wound up really enjoying this one. I haven't read others by this author, and since this is an old book, I'm not sure how easy it would be to find more by him. But I liked this one and I recommend it. Mine has an especially ugly cover - train tracks leading up to strange head - but ignore the cover, don't let the first chapter get to you, and give the book a try.
November 20, 2025
3,5/5
Το Βαγόνι των δολοφόνων του Σεμπαστιέν Ζαπριζό έρχεται να μας υπενθυμίσει τι σημαίνει ένα γνήσιο, κλασικό αστυνομικό noir. Χωρίς πλατειασμούς και χωρίς εντυπωσιακές υπερβολές, ο συγγραφέας υφαίνει την ιστορία του με απόλυτη καθαρότητα και ρυθμό.
Με μαεστρία και χειρουργική ακρίβεια, οδηγεί την πλοκή βήμα-βήμα μέσα από την αγαπημένη μας σκοτεινή, πυ��νή noir ατμόσφαιρα. Κάθε σκηνή, κάθε λεπτομέρεια, λειτουργεί για να χτίσει την ένταση και να μας κρατήσει καθηλωμένους μέχρι την τελευταία σελίδα.
Ένα βιβλίο που θυμίζει πως η κλασική αφήγηση δεν χρειάζεται φτιασίδια μόνο καλή γραφή, σφιχτή πλοκή και έναν συγγραφέα που ξέρει ακριβώς πού θέλει να μας οδηγήσει.
Το Βαγόνι των δολοφόνων του Σεμπαστιέν Ζαπριζό έρχεται να μας υπενθυμίσει τι σημαίνει ένα γνήσιο, κλασικό αστυνομικό noir. Χωρίς πλατειασμούς και χωρίς εντυπωσιακές υπερβολές, ο συγγραφέας υφαίνει την ιστορία του με απόλυτη καθαρότητα και ρυθμό.
Με μαεστρία και χειρουργική ακρίβεια, οδηγεί την πλοκή βήμα-βήμα μέσα από την αγαπημένη μας σκοτεινή, πυ��νή noir ατμόσφαιρα. Κάθε σκηνή, κάθε λεπτομέρεια, λειτουργεί για να χτίσει την ένταση και να μας κρατήσει καθηλωμένους μέχρι την τελευταία σελίδα.
Ένα βιβλίο που θυμίζει πως η κλασική αφήγηση δεν χρειάζεται φτιασίδια μόνο καλή γραφή, σφιχτή πλοκή και έναν συγγραφέα που ξέρει ακριβώς πού θέλει να μας οδηγήσει.
April 3, 2023
Rendőrös krimi, bár pont a rendőrök nem szerepelnek valami jól:)
Kicsit nehezen indult, aztán ahogy bonyolódott, egyre inkább érdekelt. Kb. utolsó harmadnál kitaláltam a gyilkos személyét, de kíváncsian vártam a befejezést.
Jó a lélektani ábrázolás, tetszett a filmszerű megjelenítés, nem véletlenül készítettek több filmet is a szerző regényeiből.
A hatvanas évek párizsi világa is érdekes, a kávézók, bisztrók-ahol még tükörtojást is felszolgálnak.
Kicsit nehezen indult, aztán ahogy bonyolódott, egyre inkább érdekelt. Kb. utolsó harmadnál kitaláltam a gyilkos személyét, de kíváncsian vártam a befejezést.
Jó a lélektani ábrázolás, tetszett a filmszerű megjelenítés, nem véletlenül készítettek több filmet is a szerző regényeiből.
A hatvanas évek párizsi világa is érdekes, a kávézók, bisztrók-ahol még tükörtojást is felszolgálnak.
August 19, 2022
Publicată inițial în 1963, cartea reprezintă un roman polițist clasic. Trebuie să recunosc că pe alocuri aveam impresia că o citesc pe Agatha Christie. Nu este vorba doar de genul literaturii care coincide. Este același stil al scrierii și același ritm. La fel ca la Agatha Christie, și aici veți găsi un subiect unic și autentic.
Trenul Marsilia-Paris își începea călătoria în mod obișnuit și nimeni nu ar fi putut presupune că la sfârșitul călătoriei una dintre pasagere avea să fie găsită moartă într-un vagon. Cine este această frumoasă victimă? Cine a avut ca scop s-o omoare? Ce rol au ceilalți pasageri? Dar mai ales, de ce după demararea anchetei unul câte unul ceilalți pasageri ai vagonului sunt omorâți? Un detectiv blazat, pe nume Pierre Emile Grazziano, primește sarcina de a descifra acest mister. Îi va reuși oare?
Cele două planuri: ale trecutului, reprezentând ziua omorului și al prezentului, prin investigațiile polițiste, se încrucișează formând o imagine de ansamblu. Descrierile nu sunt exagerate, detaliile sunt la locul lor, iar acțiunea este moderată. Rând pe rând ajungem să-i cunoaștem pe toți cei aflați în ziua fatală în vagonul macabru.
Mi-a plăcut faptul că autorul a folosit dialogul în mod constant. Replicile sunt bine punctate și nu ajungi să te plictisești. De-altfel, cartea are un pic peste 200 de pagini. Deși, fiecărui personaj îi este dedicat un pasaj nu prea mare, câteva cuvinte au fost în stare să le aducă la viață, să le dea individualitate și trăsături distinctive. Trebuie să remarc că firul acțiunii este unul ușor de urmărit. Cititorul nu este îngreunat de detalii fără sens, menite doar să facă lectura întortocheată și dificilă, cum este cazul multor thrillere moderne.
Per total cartea mi-a plăcut. Am fost prinsă de acțiune. Am urmărit desfășurarea anchetei și am investigat descoperirea criminalul sângeros.
“Compartimentul ucigașilor” de Sebastien Japrisot
Trenul Marsilia-Paris își începea călătoria în mod obișnuit și nimeni nu ar fi putut presupune că la sfârșitul călătoriei una dintre pasagere avea să fie găsită moartă într-un vagon. Cine este această frumoasă victimă? Cine a avut ca scop s-o omoare? Ce rol au ceilalți pasageri? Dar mai ales, de ce după demararea anchetei unul câte unul ceilalți pasageri ai vagonului sunt omorâți? Un detectiv blazat, pe nume Pierre Emile Grazziano, primește sarcina de a descifra acest mister. Îi va reuși oare?
Cele două planuri: ale trecutului, reprezentând ziua omorului și al prezentului, prin investigațiile polițiste, se încrucișează formând o imagine de ansamblu. Descrierile nu sunt exagerate, detaliile sunt la locul lor, iar acțiunea este moderată. Rând pe rând ajungem să-i cunoaștem pe toți cei aflați în ziua fatală în vagonul macabru.
Mi-a plăcut faptul că autorul a folosit dialogul în mod constant. Replicile sunt bine punctate și nu ajungi să te plictisești. De-altfel, cartea are un pic peste 200 de pagini. Deși, fiecărui personaj îi este dedicat un pasaj nu prea mare, câteva cuvinte au fost în stare să le aducă la viață, să le dea individualitate și trăsături distinctive. Trebuie să remarc că firul acțiunii este unul ușor de urmărit. Cititorul nu este îngreunat de detalii fără sens, menite doar să facă lectura întortocheată și dificilă, cum este cazul multor thrillere moderne.
Per total cartea mi-a plăcut. Am fost prinsă de acțiune. Am urmărit desfășurarea anchetei și am investigat descoperirea criminalul sângeros.
“Compartimentul ucigașilor” de Sebastien Japrisot
November 23, 2021
A classic 1960s French detective novel gets a deserved translation and publication in English. Thoroughly enjoyable, with a complicated enough plot to keep you guessing as the body count adds up. And the character of the principal detective 'Grazzi' is one that most readers will find sympathetic.
April 4, 2018
Detektiv janrından uzaq düşsəm də bunu bəyəndim. Qarışıq süjeti, hər personaja ayrılan vaxt və diqqət. Heç nədən yorulmursuz. Rahat dili var.
July 26, 2022
I ordered in a bunch of Sébastien Japrisot books because he's a writer I've wanted to delve into for a while now, and of them his first novel seemed to be the most appropriate starting point (well, not actually his first, but his first crime novel -- and for a crime writer isn't that really their debut?)
I get the definite sense of a writer using the structure of a mystery novel to find their own voice here, and while it is a fine mystery with lots of atmosphere and characterization, in the end it doesn't feel like a whole lot more than just that. Japrisot is definitely trying to do something more literary with this book in using a unique structure that jumps between the viewpoints of a police procedural and those of the victims in different chronologies and perspectives -- but if this is meant to increase the suspense and intrigue it's not wholly successful because of how sluggishly protracted the action is and how damn long the chapters are even for such a small book.
Along with the fact that basically all the deduction of the central mystery happens in the last two or so chapters, The Sleeping Car Murders was honestly kind of a chore to read at some points, but not totally disappointing. There's some definite writing talent and Japrisot's willingness to make unexpected narrative choices that made this a fine rather than groundbreaking read, and which still intrigues me about his other novels that I now have waiting.
I get the definite sense of a writer using the structure of a mystery novel to find their own voice here, and while it is a fine mystery with lots of atmosphere and characterization, in the end it doesn't feel like a whole lot more than just that. Japrisot is definitely trying to do something more literary with this book in using a unique structure that jumps between the viewpoints of a police procedural and those of the victims in different chronologies and perspectives -- but if this is meant to increase the suspense and intrigue it's not wholly successful because of how sluggishly protracted the action is and how damn long the chapters are even for such a small book.
Along with the fact that basically all the deduction of the central mystery happens in the last two or so chapters, The Sleeping Car Murders was honestly kind of a chore to read at some points, but not totally disappointing. There's some definite writing talent and Japrisot's willingness to make unexpected narrative choices that made this a fine rather than groundbreaking read, and which still intrigues me about his other novels that I now have waiting.
May 27, 2023
A 1962 crime novel written by a Frenchman about a murder on a train in France. We are given the bare facts of the crime, and then we begin to follow the thoughts of a fellow passenger who remembers her as he reads the newspaper story about her murder. There is a plea for those who shared the compartment with her overnight to come forward to the police and tell their stories. Slowly his thoughts reveal that he may have had a motive. But then suspects also begin to die ...
This is a psychological study, in which we live in the minds of the central characters and police. Japrisot cuts out the formality of always placing the spoken word in quotation marks: when there is a long-winded comment, it's often delivered more simply as a summary of what one said - I don't mind that.
If a reader was to categorize murder mysteries, this one would find itself placed in a group with few others. That could be considered a good thing, but because it relates to the writer's "clever difference", in this case I don't consider it so. Along the lines of an unamused parent watching a child misbehave and saying "cute", meaning just the opposite.
This is a psychological study, in which we live in the minds of the central characters and police. Japrisot cuts out the formality of always placing the spoken word in quotation marks: when there is a long-winded comment, it's often delivered more simply as a summary of what one said - I don't mind that.
If a reader was to categorize murder mysteries, this one would find itself placed in a group with few others. That could be considered a good thing, but because it relates to the writer's "clever difference", in this case I don't consider it so. Along the lines of an unamused parent watching a child misbehave and saying "cute", meaning just the opposite.
June 27, 2025
Immaculate plotting and skillful characterisation makes this one a real keeper. I think it must be the lack of a singular Detective (a Maigret or Wallender) series that keeps Japrisot from the top rank of crime writers, where he belongs
September 25, 2019
Faina si asta, desi personajul feminin e cam abulic.
May 16, 2024
Noirish French Police Procedural. Great stuff.
Read
January 9, 2025Entretenido para la playa!
August 18, 2025
Παρίσι 1962. Το νυχτερινό τρένο από τη Μασσαλία έχει φτάσει. Σε ένα από τα κουπέ του με τις κουκέτες, μια νεαρή γυναίκα βρίσκεται νεκρή. Οι υπόλοιποι συνεπιβάτες της έχουν ήδη αποβιβαστεί, οπότε; Ποιος άραγε ευθύνεται για το θάνατο της; Ο επιθεωρητής Γκρατσιανό αναλαμβάνει την υπόθεση και πρώτο του μέλημα είναι να βρει τους υπόλοιπους συνταξιδιώτες της και φυσικά τον δολοφόνο, τι άλλο;
Ο Γκρατσιανό νομίζει ότι έχει αναλάβει άλλη μια βαρετή σχεδόν υπόθεση. Δέχεται το τηλεφώνημα ενός εκ των επιβατών κι από εκεί η αφήγηση αρχίζει να παίρνει μια άλλη δυναμική. Κάθε επιβάτης, ή καλύτερα κάθε κουκέτα έχει το κεφάλαιο της και τα πράγματα αποκτούν περισσότερο ενδιαφέρον όταν οι συνεπιβάτες, σιγά σιγά ανακαλύπτονται νεκροί κι ο δολοφόνος άφαντος.
Ο συγγραφέας σε αυτο το βιβλίο, καταφέρνει να συνδυάσει το καλό αστυνομικό νουαρ και παράλληλα να προσδώσει βάθος στους χαρακτήρες του, μεταφέροντας μας στο Παρίσι της εποχής εκείνης, αποφεύγοντας να πλατειάζει.
Ευκολοδιάβαστο, παλιό κάλο νουαρ!
3,5 αστέρια
Ο Γκρατσιανό νομίζει ότι έχει αναλάβει άλλη μια βαρετή σχεδόν υπόθεση. Δέχεται το τηλεφώνημα ενός εκ των επιβατών κι από εκεί η αφήγηση αρχίζει να παίρνει μια άλλη δυναμική. Κάθε επιβάτης, ή καλύτερα κάθε κουκέτα έχει το κεφάλαιο της και τα πράγματα αποκτούν περισσότερο ενδιαφέρον όταν οι συνεπιβάτες, σιγά σιγά ανακαλύπτονται νεκροί κι ο δολοφόνος άφαντος.
Ο συγγραφέας σε αυτο το βιβλίο, καταφέρνει να συνδυάσει το καλό αστυνομικό νουαρ και παράλληλα να προσδώσει βάθος στους χαρακτήρες του, μεταφέροντας μας στο Παρίσι της εποχής εκείνης, αποφεύγοντας να πλατειάζει.
Ευκολοδιάβαστο, παλιό κάλο νουαρ!
3,5 αστέρια
September 1, 2021
This book was originally written in 1962 and translated into English in 1964. Japrisot is sometimes considered one of the "Nouveau Roman" writers, but this book was too late to qualify under that genre. It says on the cover page that it has been adapted by the publisher, but doesn't say if that was the original or the translation. If it's from the translation, lots was lost in the translation.
By adapting the English translation, I think that a lot of what made this book 'nouveau roman' was lost in the feeling that is missing from the narrative. Try reading a "Maigret" in french and then a translation your will find that the mood of the fifties and sixties of French writing is lost.
A woman is found shot dead in a lower berth of a sleeping car. All the other passengers had already exited the train. The tale has a very "Rashomon" feel to it as the detectives talk to the passengers who shared the berths of the sleeping car with the murdered woman, with their opinions and memories varying in the telling. I wish that they had left the story alone.
By adapting the English translation, I think that a lot of what made this book 'nouveau roman' was lost in the feeling that is missing from the narrative. Try reading a "Maigret" in french and then a translation your will find that the mood of the fifties and sixties of French writing is lost.
A woman is found shot dead in a lower berth of a sleeping car. All the other passengers had already exited the train. The tale has a very "Rashomon" feel to it as the detectives talk to the passengers who shared the berths of the sleeping car with the murdered woman, with their opinions and memories varying in the telling. I wish that they had left the story alone.
July 22, 2012
I enjoyed this book. I would read more of his mysteries if I found them.
At first I did not like the style of the writing. Within the first two or three chapters, I became immersed in the story and adjusted to the writing style. The plot is very complex, and once I got into the story, I was hooked.
The book is relatively short, which was probably good or I might have gotten lost keeping track of the characters. The book is organized in chapters by each occupant of a berth in the sleeping car, as the detectives search for these persons who may have clues to what happened. One subplot follows what happens to one of the sleeping car occupants as she gets settled in Paris, and I found that to be very well done.
The book is a police procedural, and we get indications of the personal lives of the detectives and the pressures they experience as they work through the investigation, and this is accomplished without distractions from the main plot.
At first I did not like the style of the writing. Within the first two or three chapters, I became immersed in the story and adjusted to the writing style. The plot is very complex, and once I got into the story, I was hooked.
The book is relatively short, which was probably good or I might have gotten lost keeping track of the characters. The book is organized in chapters by each occupant of a berth in the sleeping car, as the detectives search for these persons who may have clues to what happened. One subplot follows what happens to one of the sleeping car occupants as she gets settled in Paris, and I found that to be very well done.
The book is a police procedural, and we get indications of the personal lives of the detectives and the pressures they experience as they work through the investigation, and this is accomplished without distractions from the main plot.
November 2, 2021
VERDICT: Another murder on a night train? No worry, this noir and French variation has a lot of surprises in store for you.
Last month, I shared with you my enthusiasm for a book by Sébastien Japrisot, Rider on the rain. After that one and Trap For Cinderella, I am thrilled to share a third one today: The Sleeping Car Murders
In Gare de Lyon, Paris, Pierre is in charge of checking empty compartments after passengers left the Phocéen train coming from Marseille. Routine and rather boring job until he finds the corpse of a young and pretty woman.
Who is she? Why was she on this train? Why was she killed? Who did it?
My full review is here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/11/02/...
Last month, I shared with you my enthusiasm for a book by Sébastien Japrisot, Rider on the rain. After that one and Trap For Cinderella, I am thrilled to share a third one today: The Sleeping Car Murders
In Gare de Lyon, Paris, Pierre is in charge of checking empty compartments after passengers left the Phocéen train coming from Marseille. Routine and rather boring job until he finds the corpse of a young and pretty woman.
Who is she? Why was she on this train? Why was she killed? Who did it?
My full review is here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/11/02/...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews