The Empress Murders

A razor-sharp, mind-bendingly clever whodunnit from award-winning playwright and actor, Toby Schmitz.


'Prepare to be both dazzled and discombobulated. You have been warned.' The Sydney Morning Herald 


'Readers expecting to snuggle up with a bit of Miss Marple-style cosy crime will be in for a shock a book that will leave you thinking' The Australian 


Everyone is in peril. Everyone is a suspect.


It's 1925 and the Empress of Australia is making her regular Atlantic crossing, New York bound, with a full manifest of passengers. 


When a dead body is uncovered onboard, it is up to Inspector Archie Daniels to find the killer. But solving one murder quickly turns into solving two, then three, and it becomes clear that Daniels must act fast to avoid an all-souls-lost level calamity. No one, from the horrendously wealthy and entitled first-class passengers to those they consider the dregs of empire below deck, is safe. And no one can get off ... 


The Empress Murders is a razor-sharp, mind-bendingly clever novel that is both a witty, bloodthirsty whodunnit and an excoriating look at the excesses of the British Empire, just as the sun begins to set on it.


'A tense and claustrophobic mystery told with startling wit.' TIM MINCHIN


'Whatever you think this book is, think again. Cosy murder mystery? Historical crime fiction? Flamboyant literary feast? Slasher horror? The Empress Murders has all that, but Toby Schmitz has created a unique beast. I loved it. What a trip. Be ready for anything.' MALCOLM KNOX, author of The First Friend 


'A uniquely brilliant reimagining of the nautical murder mystery ... It's a novel that is both literary and highly readable. Unequivocally recommended.' RICHARD ROXBURGH