6:40 to Montreal

by Eva Jurczyk

Mystery

Thriller

Locked Room

352 Pages

"Deliciously suspenseful—Jurczyk delivers a classic locked-room mystery with contemporary flair and mounting dread."

Synopsis

Agatha needs uninterrupted time to work on her new book. To help her focus, her husband has bought her the perfect gift: a train ticket for a six-hour ride from Toronto to Montreal. The time aboard sets the stage for an ideal writing retreat, with only a handful of other passengers, plenty of snacks and drinks, and beautiful winter views rolling past the windows. But Agatha has other plans for her day out—plans that have nothing to do with writing. Those plans are unexpectedly derailed when the train breaks down in the middle of the frigid Canadian woods. Then one of Agatha's fellow passengers dies quietly in his seat. What seemed like a natural death quickly reveals itself as something far more sinister. As temperatures drop and panic rises, a pleasant morning in transit transforms into a desperate fight for survival against an unknown and unseen enemy. Trapped on a disabled train in the frozen wilderness with a killer among them, the passengers must figure out who can be trusted before it's too late. Will Agatha, or any of the other passengers, make it out alive? From the author of The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections comes a clever, claustrophobic thriller that pays homage to classic locked-room mysteries while delivering contemporary suspense. 6:40 to Montreal is a page-turning tale of murder, secrets, and survival.

Our Take

6:40 to Montreal is a delightfully clever thriller that resurrects the golden age mystery for contemporary readers. Eva Jurczyk clearly loves Agatha Christie—the protagonist's name is no accident—and she uses that classic locked-room structure to create mounting tension and paranoia. What makes this work so well is the confined setting: a train stranded in frozen wilderness becomes a pressure cooker where every passenger is both potential victim and suspect. Jurczyk excels at creating distinct characters quickly, giving each passenger enough personality and backstory to make them three-dimensional without slowing the pace. The Canadian winter setting adds atmospheric menace—the cold outside becomes as threatening as the killer inside. The protagonist Agatha is smart and observant, her background as a writer giving her the analytical skills to piece together clues while also making her sympathetic. The twist about her "other plans" adds an extra layer of complexity to the mystery. Jurczyk keeps the pages turning with short chapters, escalating stakes, and well-timed revelations. While some plot elements require suspension of disbelief, that's part of the genre's charm. This is puzzle-box mystery done right—fair play clues, satisfying resolution, and enough red herrings to keep readers guessing. Fans of One by One by Ruth Ware or The Guest List by Lucy Foley will devour this. 6:40 to Montreal proves that classic mystery conventions still work beautifully when executed with skill and genuine affection for the genre.