Beth and Nils are back with another buddy read – it’s definitely The Year of the Buddy Read for these two! Settle in, because they had plenty to say about Emily Paxman’s debut fantasy murder mystery…

It’s Murder on the Orient Express – with witches!
A thrilling blend of fantasy and classic murder mystery, this rollicking adventure with a wide cast of suspects is ideal for those who love both Agatha Christie and V. E. Schwab, and are drawn to stories that take place in a vivid fantasy world.

The Linde siblings—Kellen, Davina, and Morel—are anxious to return to the kingdom of Halgyr before their father dies, leaving Kellen to assume the throne as king. They book tickets on a luxury express train, expecting a swift journey home—but disaster strikes when the train engine explodes, stranding the siblings atop a caldera bubbling with volcanic magic.

The crash triggers Davina’s latent witch powers, but her magic disrupts her ability to remember what she was doing when the explosion took place. While a witch would be the prime suspect for the explosion, the only ones who knew Davina might become one are her brothers—who never warned her, driving her away from them. And, to add insult to injury, somebody is bumping off the surviving train crew and passengers. But it can’t be Davina, can it?

While the surviving passengers try to determine who sabotaged the engine and catch the killer, the fractured siblings attempt to stay one step ahead, concealing not only Davina’s powers but their own secrets. Luckily, they aren’t the only shifty characters on the train…

A thrilling blend of classic murder mystery and fantasy for those who love Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile every bit as much as Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Death on the Caldera is due for publication 27th May from Titan Books – you can pre-order your copy HERE

How much are you loving the rise in fantasy murder mysteries at the moment?

Nils: I’m fairly new to the murder mystery genre, whereas Beth absolutely loves it, don’t you?

Beth: Ha! I’ve had a complex relationship with the crime genre…

Nils: Oh really? I’m intrigued!

I very rarely read books outside of the fantasy genre, except last year I started reading The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman (on Beth’s recommendation and a buddy read for us!) and found it a delight. So when I started to see a few fantasy murder mysteries being published I was more than eager to give them a try. Last year there were two that I was so impressed with—The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennet and The Silverblood Promise by James Logan—that I was hungry for more. When I saw that Death on the Caldera was being published the premise of it immediately made me very excited and I’m ecstatic that it not only lived up to my expectations but surpassed them! 

Beth: So firstly, I LOVE this question Nils! 

Although fantasy is my favourite genre, I do read quite widely, but it’s only recently I’ve actually come to the conclusion that I do enjoy crime fiction. I’d read a couple over the years for book club, and struggled with some as, although they’re an addictive read, I’d find they’d all kind of merge in together. But I started reading CJ Sansom and Richard Osman and fell in love with their respective series. Then I went through an Agatha Christie phase at the end of last year, and now this year I’ve really been enjoying Japanese murder mysteries. So I have to just accept that yes, I do love murder mysteries xD

The other fantasy whodunnit I can think of that I’ve read is RJ Barker’s first trilogy, Age of Assassins… but suddenly, and I’m not sure if it’s off the back of the success of The Tainted Cup, there seems to be quite a few fantasy murder mysteries coming up that I’m looking forward to! 

Nils: I loved Age of Assassins too! I completely forgot that had a murder mystery plot!

Beth: Ha, Nils having her own Oh Girton moment there xD I loved that trilogy!

Death on the Caldera was sold as Murder on the Orient Express with witches, so I positively jumped at that. For some reason, I was expecting it to be set in our world, in the 1920s – reminiscent of an Agatha Christie. So I was very surprised to find a secondary fantasy world in a kind of Victoriana gas lamp setting, but despite my differing expectations, it was easy to get into! 

What were your first impressions?

Nils: So this isn’t a book which starts off with a murder but instead the reader is pulled in by family drama, a young woman and child escaping something or someone and the concept of powerful, dangerous witches. I was pretty much immediately sucked in by this. 

Beth: That’s another Christie element there, that touch of Towards Zero where we get a build-up of the situation and we’re trying to work out who’s going to be murdered before we then need to work out who did it. 

Nils: Oh that’s interesting to know that the Agatha Christie vibes were present right from the beginning. 

Beth: There weren’t many AC vibes… you had the luxury train for a brief time, but the sheer amount of fantasy elements and plot lines overtook that feel for me.

Like Nils, I was sucked in immediately – I was just going to read a couple of pages after I finished my last read, but I ended up burning through the first three chapters before I’d realised! In all honesty, I didn’t warm to our first protagonist; rather what drew me in was the world, the socio-politics, the mysteries hinted at. It was such a strong start – Paxman conveyed so much about her world in such a short space of time and in such a subtle manner!

The first characters you meet are the three Linde siblings, Davina, Morel and Kellen. What did you make of them?

Nils: We start off with Davina’s POV and see that she’s a headstrong character desperate for independence in a time when her father and brothers would decide her future and she pretty much resents them for it. 

Beth: Our first chapter is with Davina, and as I confessed above, I didn’t immediately warm to her. There was plenty of complexity that came through for her; that clash of a privileged fortunate life as a princess, but the constrictions those very privileges place on a headstrong and independent woman. Her loneliness came through strongly too. But despite recognising these complexities, there was just something that stopped me sympathising and connecting with her. I found her a little whiny, and I thought this is the character who’s going to go on the biggest journey in terms of character growth,

Nils: I did find Davina whiny too but that didn’t make me dislike her, though I didn’t sympathise with her either, I was just happy to see where her story would go. Yet when we get to her eldest brother, Kellen’s perspective, I became attached to him much more easily. We see that he is not quite the overbearing, selfish brother Davina perceives him to be. It was so easy to warm to Kellen right from the beginning, to understand and sympathise with the responsibilities he bears and the kind of restraints that are put on his life. Kellen felt like a conflicted character whereas Davina felt more shallow and so I enjoyed watching them both grow. Morel was quite an amusing character, with his lack of care with the latest fashion trends, but he was also one I was suspicious of at times. Was he really as sweet as he seemed? Yet I think Paxman did a great job of portraying their sibling relationship, the way they misunderstood each other, argued, jibed but then slowly grew to learn that they really did love one another and would do anything for each other.

Beth: I really liked Kellen, I’d figured there was going to be more to his character than what we’d gleaned from Davina, so I was super relieved we had him as a POV character too. If anything, I connected more with him than Davina, and I think all the times I cried in this book were because of him and his particular circumstances!

You were so suspicious of Morel Nils, it was so funny – I think this is another instance of where grimdark has ruined us for any other genre. We’re instantly suspicious of any character who seems kind and sweet.

Nils: That is so true Beth! After reading so many grimdark books, I don’t always trust nice characters anymore, I always believe they’re hiding something!

Beth: There was another character like this and you just took an instant cynical disliking to him that was hilarious.

But yes, you make a great point of Paxman’s writing here, I agree she did a brilliant job conveying the complexities of sibling relationships. I’m one of three myself, and we never understood each other properly, always on cross purposes and making assumptions about why we did certain things!

And along the way, which other characters did you find interesting and likeable?

Nils: Amidst all these adults is Rae, a child who is so precious we immediately became attached to her, didn’t we Beth?

Beth: Omgosh I fell in love with Rae straight away! The first chapter is in Davina’s perspective and I got to the end of that not sure what to make of the story so far… and then the following chapter was Rae’s perspective, and the placement of that chapter dragged me into the story hard and saved it for me. Her situation with her mother was so intriguing, I was dying to know what they were running from!

Nils: There’s a vulnerability to Rae, a longing for a father she lost before she could even remember him, but then Rae is also sharp, observant and unlike the adults around her, she’s not prejudiced towards witches. Arguably she’s the most mature of them all and I loved everything about her.

I found Dalton and Merrith to be quite interesting characters too. They were young lovers who seeked a better life for themselves and they also served to give us much knowledge and history of their race, the Renchans. There was so much tragedy here though, but it serves to make you feel for them and their people.

Then there’s the characters who I liked but also quickly grew suspicious of! I mean this is a murder mystery after all so each reader is bound to have their suspects. People like Lord Carey and Penny Aldridge appeared nice and were always eager to get involved and help, but were they hiding something? Were they also too nice? 

Beth: There was quite a big cast of characters, wasn’t there! But I’m only really getting a sense of that now you list them. I certainly didn’t feel that way reading it. Paxman clearly did a great job creating rounded characters who stood out enough from each other. 

What about Paxman’s worldbuilding? What did you make of its history surrounding witches, gods and volchemistry?

Nils: This is where Paxman took me by surprise because I was not expecting such a well developed world with such complexity in its politics and depth in its magic system. 

Beth: I wholeheartedly agree!

Nils: I was initially absolutely fascinated by volchemistry and the way mist, quartz and solozite from the volcano in Caldera could offer characters with the right knowledge powers such as altering the moods of others to make them more amenable. Then throw in the mythology of the two opposing deities, Ramona and Soloz, and how that affected shaping of the world and the history of the witches, well I was absolutely impressed. Paxman cleverly develops the worldbuilding throughout so that it interweaves into the murder mystery narrative, which meant that myself and Beth had so many theories throughout! 

Beth: As Nils says, there were three different magic systems; the nebulous and secretive mist from Kellen’s homeland, the physical volchemistry that used different types of rock and had quite an alchemical and scientific feel to it, and then the magic of the witches, which was most powerful. I loved how well-realised these systems were, and the ways they represented different issues in the society. Mist and volchemistry belonged to the realms of the upper classes and the educated, so of course the crime underworld had an illegal and roaring trade in them. Witchcraft was unknowable and powerful, so those unable to harness it controlled it by spreading fear and outlawing witches. This was such a complex and well-realised world for a debut – it took me by surprise and was so impressive!

Let’s address the mystery itself – in amongst all the socio-politics, the witches, the fantasy, how did the murder mystery element stand out for you?

Beth: Obviously, it’s going to be tricky tip-toeing around this point as we try to avoid spoilers. What I will say is, this book is marketed as a murder-mystery, and I feel that is such an underselling of the book, as there is so much more going on than just a murder that they now have to solve.

Nils: Completely agree! This book has so many layers and each one is connected in very clever ways. It’s a hard book to define really!

Beth: That’s true, I guess it’s easier to simply market it as a murder mystery, because where else would you begin! There is an event, then the murder, there are secret identities, and there’s an underground criminal mystery, so the murder mystery element is very much just one cog in quite a big multiple-mystery machine! With that in mind, I guess you could say the murder mystery got swallowed up in the overall story and wasn’t a main focus, but then I don’t think it was ever intended to be the main focus? As I said, we get so much more story than I was expecting, so I found it a huge bonus that there were multiple mysteries to attempt to solve.

Nils: I know we’re making the book sound overly complicated here but trust me everything flows so seamlessly. At no point did I feel lost, or found myself confused by all that was happening, every thread of the narrative is easy to follow and more importantly it’s very engaging. Myself and Beth had many theories on who the culprit might be, we had lots of discussions on what implications this might have on the worldbuilding or how it might connect to religion, race, or politics. The depth is outstanding and the story really has you gripped until the end. 

Beth: That’s a good point Nils, it never felt overly-complicated reading it! As with any good mystery, there were plenty of red herrings that kept us guessing. I loved our discussions on WhatsApp about this book as we dissected all our theories! 

Favourite Quotes

(all quotes used are taken from an early ARC and are subject to change upon publication)

Beth:

“All she wanted was to survive and that was why she needed him. Without her, he’d be dead by now. And without him, she wouldn’t ever live.”

Nils:

“She had a name. She had a brother. And he loved her.” 😭

“Rae’s eyes stayed glued to the window. She imagined herself teetering on the edge of those mountains. Another word and she’d slip off the ledge. A small confession and this whole dreamy world would come tumbling down.”

What were your overall thoughts?

Nils: Death on the Caldera takes an epic fantasy world, combines it with a murder mystery plot and delivers a thrilling, unputdownable tale. I am awed that this debut contains so much depth and heart, there’s witches, unpredictable volcanic magic, myths and historical depth and characters who feel real and compelling. I feel the ending leaves us with a sense of closure but also has scope for more to come and I for one would very much love to read more from this world and this author. Can you tell I loved it?! 

Beth: How to follow that up?! Nils put it all so perfectly! I loved this book so much, I couldn’t put it down, the multiple mysteries kept me guessing at every turn of the page… I wasn’t expecting so much depth or heart, such moving storylines. I wasn’t expecting to cry as often as I did (particularly challenging because I read a lot of this book whilst at work). I wasn’t ready to leave these characters and their world; as Nils said, it comes to a satisfying conclusion, I just didn’t want them to keep living their lives without me! Hands down one of the most impressive debuts I’ve read in some time! 

Death on the Caldera is due for publication 27th May from Titan Books – you can pre-order your copy HERE