The Holy City Express a fast-paced fictional detective novel from a bygone era involving a first-class train, murder, and a lot of money. The protagonist Duke Dempsey is forced to take a vacation that turns out not to be a vacation at all. The Holy City Express is the fourth book in the Duke Dempsey Mystery series written by Robert Plante Jr

Duke Dempsey is attacked by a mob boss who is getting back at him for previous interactions. Because of this, Duke’s supervisors demand that he take some vacation time. They insist that Duke get on the high-class city express and just take a vacation. It turns out that this truly is a high-class excursion on a train specifically built by some millionaires. Duke is supposed to not work at all, but rather just enjoy the ride. When he gets there, he finds out that he’s been upgraded to higher class cabin, which turns out to be tremendous compared to anything he’s ever been on before. On the first night during a dinner with a number of these high-flyers, two people are murdered and Duke Dempsey springs into action. Annoyingly, the head of security for the train refuses to let Dempsey help. Of course, Dempsey isn’t able to back off and he keeps pushing to get more information. As he gathers more facts, he discovers that this a lot more complicated than he first thought and progress is slow. Fortunately, one of the train owners allows Duke to take some control of the investigation until they reach one of their first stops in Ashville, North Carolina. During this short time, Duke is able to get enough information to realize that there is something very odd going on. The security people think that Dukes acquaintance, a Pinkerton detective, was killed when he was actually trying to rob the train and one train employee died while trying to protect the vault. Duke suspects that this is not the case although he has no proof. Dempsey, while trying to determine whether or not his acquaintance actually was breaking the law, uncovers an unexpected story and discovers his acquaintance was not who he claimed to be. The story suddenly comes to fast-paced and ends with an unexpected twist.

Plante writes detective novels that take place in the pre-WWll time period. The characters are definitely true to a pre-feminist time period where men are in charge and women fight to play a role. Dempsey at this time is in a sad state because he has just lost the of the love of his life and he is trying to get over this by working. His alcohol and smoking problem are accelerated when he’s working but he still remains focused. The descriptions of the train atmosphere and associated technology is according to the period of pre-World War II. People smoke and drink a lot and the vocabulary indicates that there is significant inequality. Women are referred to referred as “dolls” and men are referred by their last name only. They all appear to be tough guys. This is the unique way of presenting the characters and adds to the overall uniqueness of the book.

The story is interesting because it has different facets. There are the murders that Dempsey is trying to solve. There is also the political atmosphere going on just pre-war where many of the men on the train are high powered individuals who will determine US’s role in the war. There is also a spy network actively in place on the train. These are the sort of interactions that add to the interest and complexity of the story keeping the reader involved. For an added bonus, as the story approaches the reveal everything becomes very fast-paced.

I recommend this story for people who detective novels. As well, it is unique because Dempsey is a hard living, hard talking detective from the pre-war era. I give the story a four on five primarily because it is so fast paced. I’d to thank BookSirens and the author for providing me with a digital copy of this novel. I give this review voluntarily.crime culture detective-novels ...more2 s Ron Jr.Author 4 books89

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