6:40 to Montreal

Finished November 9

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk

This locked room mystery is quite the page-turner. The narrator is Agatha, a woman who wrote a mystery book featuring a yoga instructor that became a best seller. Now, she's trying to work on a second book, but is coming up short on ideas. She's also been undergoing cancer treatment and as a result has been stuck in a depression. Her husband Teddy has given her a gift of a business-class, round-trip ticket from Toronto to Montreal by train, thinking that she can use the uninterrupted, mostly internet-free journey there and back to write. She's a little disappointed in the gift, which doesn't even include a night in Montreal before returning, and she has planned something on her own that he isn't aware of.

It a day of a winter storm, and by the time Agatha gets down to Union Station the snow is coming down quite intensely. The attendant, Dorcas, seems professional and friendly and then gets distracted by the task of teaching an intern the basics of the job. Agatha is one of the first people on the car, and notices a mother and young adult son, Vivien and Rupinder get on because they are seated in the emergency exit row, and Dorcas explains the emergency procedure to them. 

The car isn't full, yet an older man, Finch Weatherby, sits beside her and tries to get her to give up her seat to him. She takes an immediate dislike to him, and that only increases as he makes some loud phone calls that are abusive and demeaning to the person on the other end. A couple other people get on, but Agatha has been distracted by Finch and doesn't really notice them.

She still has trouble focusing on writing and finds her mind going in other directions. When the train suddenly stops and all but emergency power goes off, the passengers begin to ask questions and worry about how long they will be stopped. When they discover that one of the passengers is dead, they begin to suspect each other. As the passengers begin to get more anxious and the tension increases, they find even more to worry about and tensions continue to build. The doors on their car have been locked in the emergency and they can't move away from each other. 

Fast-moving and dark, this novel offers lots of twisty elements. 

Did one of them kill the passenger, and if so, why?