I have to say it was the cover of Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Express Train to Nowhere that first caught my attention. It reminded me of the covers of old Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and The Happy Hollisters books. (Yes, I am really showing my age, lol.) And then I read the book blurb, in which the heroes of the book are described as “three idiot wannabe detectives” and instantly knew I was all. I honestly don’t know what genre this book should fall into, perhaps mystery satire would fit best, but I can tell you the book is really fun. I will say the description of the three heroes as idiot wannabes isn’t completely accurate, as the female member of the group, Trudi, is actually quite smart. While the story mostly revolves around the members of the adventure club being setup to take the fall for a crime that occurs onboard the train, the story is interrupted on a number of occasions by the author…who is a character in the story…actually he’s on the train writing the very adventure that you’re reading about…and he has no compunction about frequently breaking the 4th wall and talking directly to the reader, telling us of his reasons for writing these books (money) or of telling the characters in the book that they are in fact characters in a book. Very meta and very funny. I don’t know if this will appeal to more traditional mystery readers, but I thought it was a blast and look forward to more adventures. Thanks so much to Permuted Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Express Train to Nowhere.

I enjoyed this novel, it made cackle a few times and had a decent story. The author’s introduction cracked me up and I read it in the voice of Dr. Cecil HH Mills. I look forward to more from Arin Hanson.

I went into this novel having not read the first (yet), and was worried I would be missing something. While I would have definitely benefited from the additional character context, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I got to know the characters perfectly well throughout this novel. The story was very strong, with a lot of unexpected twists. The inclusion of the author as a character, and the metanarration throughout was something I had never experienced in a novel before, and was very mind-bending, but satisfying. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and will now have to go back and read The Grande Chateau to get more of the story information. All-in-all, a great novel, with a riveting story, and fantastic characters. Definitely worth the read!!!