Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

Ernie explains that he’s writing this, his second book, aboard the Ghan as it sits outside Adelaide. The train has stopped short of its final destination because, he notes, the authorities are dealing with “the bodies” (7). He promises that this will be a “fair-play” mystery and that he’ll be a reliable narrator. He confesses that writing a sequel is tricky and notes that although this story takes place in a new location with a separate cast of characters, it does have some similarities to his first book—including, strangely, that a mark of punctuation will be an important clue. He also notes that this book will break some of the rules for detective fiction—for instance, Van Dine’s rule that it can have only one detective. The problem, he indicates, is that he can’t necessarily make reality conform to Van Dine’s rules. He concludes with a preview of the action: “Seven writers board a train. At the end of the line, five will leave it alive. One will be in cuffs […] And me? I don’t kill anyone this time around” (10).