Death on the Caldera

I read a lot of genre fiction that has been mixed with a crime drama as it is an excellent way of giving a story a solid throughline. A murder mystery can concentrate the narrative when exploring a high concept Science Fiction world. It is also a great way of giving grit to an Urban Fantasy story, grounding the magical in something real. What I do not read as often is crime mixed with High Fantasy. Emily Paxman has done just this in Death on the Caldera and has not chosen any old crime style to pay homage to, but one of the greatest, a classic Agatha Christie style whodunnit. 

The passengers on the Caldera are on board for a number of reasons, but most have no motive to want to crash the train and then to start murdering the survivors. Or do they? Could Rae be a suspect? She has fled on the train with her daughter, leaving behind her old life, but why? The Linde family are also suspect. They all hold a secret that no one can know. Is it a secret worth killing over? When the survivors vote that the Lindes should investigate what better way to reflect blame from themselves? 

There is a lot for Paxman to balance in Caldera as this is a High Fantasy novel that tries to integrate the murder mystery fully. This is not a token attempt to provide some loose structure to the novel, but a core component. For the book to work both the Fantasy and Crime fiction elements need to work in balance, and they do. 

On a magical level, there is some intriguing world building happening. A dominant nation has built a railway through various countries; not all are happy with this development. Various magical styles are used against one another, including those that use the power of the Earth, and the ostracised Witch community. Witches are welcomed in some countries, but hunted down, and killed in others. One other aspect about Witches that plays a pivotal role in the murder mystery is that they are two entities in one; a human and a Witch, you change from one to another when you true human or Witch name is spoken. 

The Crime element is also well catered for and rather than ignoring the fact that it is a Fantasy novel, it plays into it. Is the suspect a Witch or a user of Earth magic? One can be made to look like the other. This allows for Paxman to play the classic Red Herring game of throwing the reader off the scent. 

There are plenty of potential killers and victims on the train, but the story centres on the Linde family and Rae. All of them have plenty of secrets to reveal as the book progresses, but they also have a bond. The dynamic between these central characters is what gives the books its heart, there is a community and a family that you want to survive. 

Who crashed the train and who is killing the survivors, and are they the same person or peoples? You will have to read the book to find out. Paxman does a good job of making the story complex enough that it is not straight forward to solve, and it has some twists. The mix of complex magics, and murder can get a little confusing at times, but the core family dynamics that pepper the investigation make the book enjoyable to read. As a reader you want to see who did it, and discover how the Lindes et al can get out of the tricky situation they find themselves in.