BOOKS

The Empress Murders

Toby Schmitz

RRP: £14.99

5 February 2026

Published by Allen & Unwin

ISBN: 9781761069192

‘A tense and claustrophobic mystery told with startling wit’ Tim Minchin
‘Swerves from cosy Christie homage into something far more brutal’ Guardian

It’s 1925, and the Empress of Australia sails toward New York with a full passenger manifest. When a body is discovered onboard, Inspector Archie Daniels begins investigating – but one murder becomes two, then three. Racing against time to prevent disaster, Daniels realizes no one is safe, from entitled first-class passengers to those deemed ‘dregs of empire’ below deck. With nowhere to run on the open Atlantic, the killer remains among them. The Empress Murders delivers a razor-sharp, mind-bendingly clever whodunnit that doubles as a bloodthirsty mystery and scathing examination of British Empire excess as its sun begins setting.