Before the Murder on the Orient Express, the classic mystery, detective, crime novel from Agatha Christie, with its exotic railway setting, there was the The Rome Express (written in 1896) and The Passenger from Calais (1905) by Arthur Griffiths. Not quite in the same league as the classic from Christie, these novels by Griffiths are still enjoyable, if you love stories from an entirely different time frame.
Describing the mysterious affairs that happen to Colonel Basil Annesley , an army officer, onboard the Engadine Express from Calais, The Passenger from Calais takes the reader for a mystery ride across Europe, with enough twists and turns, enigmatic characters and action, all with an old world charm.
Arthur Griffiths, who wrote extensively about crime and who held the post of Inspector of Prisons in his life, succeeds in creating an atmosphere of criminality within the narrative – and the author utilizes multiple point of views to tell the story – through his portrayal of pretty terrible villains and acts of swindle. One factor, which comes as a mild surprise from a novel from the Victorian time period, is the depiction of not one, but two powerful female characters, who breaks the common cookie cutter portrayals of the damsel in distress trope.
Emphasis should be placed on the fact that The Passenger from Calais is a book written in a totally different time period than ours; the social ambience, manners and customs followed by the characters are dated; the gravity of crime may not be shocking for the modern day reader; the methods of detection and forensics along with the communication systems used by law enforcement agencies and the speed of communication are all from another era. Still a quick, enjoyable read for lovers of vintage mystery and crime.
