Death on the Evening Star
(2026)(The first book in the Track and Tails Mystery series)
A novel by Hailey Hartley
Vivian Hayes loves her job as passenger services coordinator aboard the Evening Star, a luxury sleeper train winding through the breathtaking Pacific Northwest mountains. With her nervous but perceptive Italian Greyhound, Biscuit, always at her side, she prides herself on making every journey memorable for passengers seeking the romance and adventure of vintage rail travel. But when wealthy socialite Constance Aldridge vanishes from her locked first-class cabin during an overnight run, Vivian finds herself thrust into a mystery that threatens everything she holds dear about the train she loves.
The impossible locked room mystery deepens when Biscuit's anxious behavior leads to a chilling discovery—a hidden crawlspace connecting the luxury cabins, unsealed by someone with sinister intentions. As Detective Miles Bradford investigates and suspicion falls on a fellow passenger, Vivian can't shake the feeling that the obvious answer is too convenient. With Constance's body discovered beside the remote mountain tracks and evidence of chloroform in her system, what began as a disappearance becomes a calculated murder. The real killer is still aboard the Evening Star, and Vivian's questions are putting her directly in danger.
Racing against time as the investigation unfolds across the train's elegant dining cars and shadowy maintenance corridors, Vivian must trust her instincts and Biscuit's remarkable nose to uncover the truth. What she discovers is a twisted tale of inheritance fraud, decades-old revenge, and a partnership turned deadly. Can a train coordinator and her faithful companion unmask a killer who's spent twenty years planning the perfect crime? Or will the Evening Star's next stop be Vivian's last? All aboard for a journey where every passenger has secrets, every cabin hides danger, and one woman and her dog are the only things standing between justice and murder.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
The impossible locked room mystery deepens when Biscuit's anxious behavior leads to a chilling discovery—a hidden crawlspace connecting the luxury cabins, unsealed by someone with sinister intentions. As Detective Miles Bradford investigates and suspicion falls on a fellow passenger, Vivian can't shake the feeling that the obvious answer is too convenient. With Constance's body discovered beside the remote mountain tracks and evidence of chloroform in her system, what began as a disappearance becomes a calculated murder. The real killer is still aboard the Evening Star, and Vivian's questions are putting her directly in danger.
Racing against time as the investigation unfolds across the train's elegant dining cars and shadowy maintenance corridors, Vivian must trust her instincts and Biscuit's remarkable nose to uncover the truth. What she discovers is a twisted tale of inheritance fraud, decades-old revenge, and a partnership turned deadly. Can a train coordinator and her faithful companion unmask a killer who's spent twenty years planning the perfect crime? Or will the Evening Star's next stop be Vivian's last? All aboard for a journey where every passenger has secrets, every cabin hides danger, and one woman and her dog are the only things standing between justice and murder.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Hailey Hartley's Death on the Evening Star