Vultures in the Sky

 

Vultures in the Sky (1935) by Todd Downing

Hugh Rennert is a US Customs Agent making a train journey to Mexico City. The trip is meant to be an ordinary one for him, but fate has other ideas. Over the last several weeks, a kidnapping case has held the headlines in the States and it is rumored that the mastermind behind the kidnapping (and killing) of the child is on board. There is also danger to the train when a railway strike threatens to cause delays...and possibly damage. But the threat of strike is overshadowed by murder when one of the passengers is killed while the train passes through a long dark tunnel. When more deaths follow, it becomes apparent that somebody is desperate to keep a secret--no matter how many have to die to do so. Is it the kidnapper trying to safeguard their identity? Or perhaps it's the labor agitator who is aiding the strike? Or is there another, as yet unsuspected, secret that needs to be kept?

Rennert, as the most official person on the train, is given authority to investigate until Mexican officials can join the train at a station down the line. He has his work cut out for him because at first it seems that no one could have approached the man in the tunnel--even though two of the passengers say that they noticed movement in the dark. It isn't until he has the passengers reenact their movements during the second murder that he begins to see daylight. But will he be able to get proof that will convince the Mexican officials?

There are a few points that keep this from a higher star count. Some of my explanation is blatant spoiler, so it will be hidden with ROT13 coding: Vs Frneprl ernyyl jnf thvygl bs gur xvqanccvat naq gurersber gur zheqref, gura V svaq vg uneq gb oryvrir gung ab bar xarj na nyovab jnf vaibyirq va gur pevzr. Nsgre jrrxf bs vairfgvtngvba, gurer jnfa'g n uvag va nyy gur fpernzvat arjfcncre negvpyrf gung nalbar unq nal pyhr nobhg jub jnf vaibyirq va gur xvqanccvat bs gur puvyq. Lbh'q guvax fbzrobql jbhyq unir abgvprq na nyovab unatvat nebhaq.

When the clues and rumors were sifted down there remained the inescapable fact that no one knew whether one or more than one person were involved, whether the kidnaper were a man or a woman, whether one familiar with the life of the Montes family or an absolute stranger. 

I had my suspicions about the culprit. But didn't ultimately pick them because I thought it far more likely that another person could have been more overlooked in the kidnapping case. The other disappointment was the final wrap-up scene. It was pretty anti-climatic, but points (I guess) for an unusual way to dispose of the culprit without actually arresting them and sending them through the justice system. 

Where Downing succeeds is with the Mexican landscape and the train setting. The landscape is so well-drawn that it almost becomes another character. And the closed circle nature of the train journey provides the necessary amount of tension and suspense. He also does a good job with clues that don't exactly mean what you think they mean...I just wish they had pointed in a different direction so I would have been more satisfied with the ending. ★★★ and 1/2 

First line: "Blast the train?"

Last lines: The residence which was destroyed is believed to have been empty at the time since the owner, [redacted because spoiler], is at present in the United States. It was known locally as La Casa de los Almos, from the poplar trees which surrounded it, and its garden of flowers were the most beautiful in the city.

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Deaths =  6 (four poisoned; one car accident; one stabbed)