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Hugh Rennert #3
Vultures in the Sky
A train speeding through the Mexican desert pulls out of a tunnel, and the passengers discover that murder was committed in the tunnel. It's a classic situation: a closed carload of people, one of whom must be the killer, but all have something to hide. - The Mystery Lover's Companion, Art Bourgeau
321 pages
First published January 1, 1935
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 12, 2024
Vultures in the Sky is a rare early mystery novel written by a Native American, though the main character is white and there are no American Indian characters. A lost opportunity. This is the third Hugh Rennert mystery (my first) and is a closed circle, locked room-type puzzle as a murder occurs on a moving train traveling through Mexico. More murders occur as the train hurtles through the desert amidst the complications of a railway strike, militant religious zealots, and the recent kidnapping of a child. And more murders. The best part of the novel is the atmospheric, sensual descriptions of Mexico and Mexicans in the Thirties. Downing evokes an imposing, ever present backdrop of the desolate and perilously arid landscape. A recurring motif of menace is the black vultures, the zopilotes, that hover above and track the train. Mexican author Manuel Azuela comes in for a mention. Vultures in the Sky is 300 pages of workmanlike, competent mystery, well-plotted and constructed, but seeming to lack sufficient emotional involvement. I didn't get sucked in. The characters seemed opaque, distant, at times the male characters were difficult to differentiate. Everything was done right, diligently, there was so much to offer in the images of Mexico, some of the characters intriguing, but the story could be plodding and the intended twist ending became a vortex of confusion. After writing several mystery novels Downing went into advertising and later became a high school teacher and university professor, a noted expert in the Choctaw language. [3★]
March 8, 2021
An enjoyable golden age mystery, with a classic "murder on a train" setting. This time the train is heading through the desert of Mexico, and the mood is already tense with labor strike issues and an engine that might not make it. When a passenger in the Pullman car is found dead after a passage through a dark tunnel, the mood starts to turn to panic. Which of the (remaining) passengers is a killer? US Agent Hugh Rennert takes control of the investigation, and soon finds that all of his fellow passengers have secrets to hide, lies that have been told. As the body count rises, will Rennert be able to identify the murderer before they get to Mexico City?
Mr. Downing does a great job of taking a classic setting and providing a local flavor - his appreciation of Mexico comes through loud and clear, and adds an additional dimension to the well-worn story.
Mr. Downing does a great job of taking a classic setting and providing a local flavor - his appreciation of Mexico comes through loud and clear, and adds an additional dimension to the well-worn story.
November 24, 2023
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 is hidden:
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.
A low 3.5 stars, actually. Rounded down here.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
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 is hidden:
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.
A low 3.5 stars, actually. Rounded down here.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
May 31, 2021
Compared to both Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, and Murder on the Orient Express, it has some elements of these stories, but really is compelling enough on its own merits. Perhaps the most iconic character is the landscape, as personified in the sprawling Mexican desert. Arid, stark, pale against the bright blue sky, it is both terrifying and beautiful at the same time (perhaps as all truly seductive things are). Time passes as though it stands still here; this effect is heightened by the fact that the events in the book take place within 24 hours. As a reader you have the ability to sink into this world, and it is easy to get enveloped in the feel of it. While I don't think this is any great masterpiece of a mystery, it is a masterful atmosphere that is developed, and I would happily read this author again.
January 24, 2022
2.5 stars. Good grief, this story is grim. Basically a locked room mystery that takes place in the Pullman car of a train traveling through Mexico in the mid-1930s. The ending was supremely unsatisfying, especially after plowing through 300+ pages of constant death, with high-strung yet interchangable characters, all of whom were lying. In the end, I kinda wanted it to be the religious fanatic.
April 16, 2023
Might have been a 4 but down to 3 due to odd ending.
January 31, 2021
Full disclosure: Todd is no relation, my clan being centered in the rocky soil of New England, his in the sere desert of the Southwest. Now. With that out of the way...
I had never heard of Mr. Todd Downing until Mr. Otto Penzler and his American Mystery Classics brought out the present volume. Several of the other revivals from this imprint are familiar to me, so I figured this adventure would work out. It did.
Composed in the old way, as a fair play mystery, basically a closed room puzzle, "Vultures in the Sky" does depend upon the workings of a train and the mystique of Mexico between the world wars. All is done well: the writing, the plotting, the dropped clues, the characters. Mystery fans, as well as the curious, will be pleased.
Warning: these pages may be hazardous to the reader's health, filled as they are with clouds of tobacco smoke. Some things do change.
Recommended
I had never heard of Mr. Todd Downing until Mr. Otto Penzler and his American Mystery Classics brought out the present volume. Several of the other revivals from this imprint are familiar to me, so I figured this adventure would work out. It did.
Composed in the old way, as a fair play mystery, basically a closed room puzzle, "Vultures in the Sky" does depend upon the workings of a train and the mystique of Mexico between the world wars. All is done well: the writing, the plotting, the dropped clues, the characters. Mystery fans, as well as the curious, will be pleased.
Warning: these pages may be hazardous to the reader's health, filled as they are with clouds of tobacco smoke. Some things do change.
Recommended
May 1, 2017
Great read. For my full review click here:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
February 6, 2023
I am not a fan of genre fiction in general or mystery novels in particular, which are often predictable and in many cases lacking in originality or literary merit.
What sets this mystery novel apart from the rest of the pack is the quality of the writing, especially the author’s extraordinary use of sensory detail to immerse the reader in a highly authentic setting amid an atmosphere of hopelessness and despair which is relieved only by Inspector Rennert’s determined efforts to ferret out the truth about a series of murders aboard a wobbly train making its way across the Mexican desert en route to Mexico City.
Character development is all but absent among the roster of aloof passengers that populate this novel, which is not uncommon in the mystery genre, where the focus is overwhelmingly on plotting and suspense at the expense of characterization. Interestingly, however, the only two female characters in Dowling’s novel are described in greater detail than their chain-smoking, impassive male counterparts. I figured out early on that one of the two women would become a major “person of interest” in solving the murders.
Two scenes in this novel stood out for me as worthy of acclaim. One was the jarring scene of the uncoupling of the train cars, leaving Inspector Rennert and the murder suspects stranded in the desert. The other was the conversation in the last chapter between Inspector Rennert and Searcey. While much of the dialogue to this point had been boring and repetetive, Searcey’s revelation regarding the difficulties he suffers in life because of his condition offers the reader a refreshing glimpse into the psyche of one of the characters.
Perhaps if I had gotten to know some of the other characters on a deeper level, I might have cared more about their destinies. As it stands, the characters were so superficial that I found it difficult to care much whether they lived or died aboard that lonely train in the Mexican desert.
What sets this mystery novel apart from the rest of the pack is the quality of the writing, especially the author’s extraordinary use of sensory detail to immerse the reader in a highly authentic setting amid an atmosphere of hopelessness and despair which is relieved only by Inspector Rennert’s determined efforts to ferret out the truth about a series of murders aboard a wobbly train making its way across the Mexican desert en route to Mexico City.
Character development is all but absent among the roster of aloof passengers that populate this novel, which is not uncommon in the mystery genre, where the focus is overwhelmingly on plotting and suspense at the expense of characterization. Interestingly, however, the only two female characters in Dowling’s novel are described in greater detail than their chain-smoking, impassive male counterparts. I figured out early on that one of the two women would become a major “person of interest” in solving the murders.
Two scenes in this novel stood out for me as worthy of acclaim. One was the jarring scene of the uncoupling of the train cars, leaving Inspector Rennert and the murder suspects stranded in the desert. The other was the conversation in the last chapter between Inspector Rennert and Searcey. While much of the dialogue to this point had been boring and repetetive, Searcey’s revelation regarding the difficulties he suffers in life because of his condition offers the reader a refreshing glimpse into the psyche of one of the characters.
Perhaps if I had gotten to know some of the other characters on a deeper level, I might have cared more about their destinies. As it stands, the characters were so superficial that I found it difficult to care much whether they lived or died aboard that lonely train in the Mexican desert.
January 23, 2021
A train hurtling through the Mexican desert en route to Mexico City passes through a long tunnel. When it emerges, one of the nine individuals in the Pullman car lies dead. Clearly, one of the remaining eight passengers is a murderer -- but which one? Hugh Rennert, an agent for the U. S. Treasury Department, launches an investigation, until such time as the train will arrive at the next station and Mexican authorities can take over. But will the train reach the next station before another death occurs? There are rumblings of a violent railroad strike, there is a manhunt continuing for those responsible in the kidnapping and killing of a young boy in Texas, and there are bands of marauding militant Cristeros (antigovernment Christians seeking social change for the poor). Do any of these things bear on the murder at hand? -- Despite its set-up and atmosphere, I found this mystery -- as fascinating as it was, as satisfyingly it is resolved -- to be curiously uninvolving.. With only one or two exceptions, the characters seemed almost interchangeable. I'm not sorry to have read this American mystery classic, but I would not enthusiastically urge it upon anyone for whom the above description holds little or no interest.
July 19, 2020
During a time of unrest in Mexico, there were a group of people on a train. They were all nervous because of the political issues as well as rumors of religious zealots. Then, there are also the vultures following the train... and someone is killed. Then another person. The remaining passengers become more and more nervous. But Hugh Rennert steps up to get to know the other passengers and tries to discover why a man should have been killed and why so many other passengers are lying.
Basically a locked room mystery, I heard about this book on the Classic Mysteries podcast. The mystery is described there as a fair play story (the readers should be able to guess who the murderer was) but I actually found it incredibly confusing. The book was published in 1935 and the attitudes and descriptions of the Mexicans and women are very much of the time and hard to read in the modern day.
Basically a locked room mystery, I heard about this book on the Classic Mysteries podcast. The mystery is described there as a fair play story (the readers should be able to guess who the murderer was) but I actually found it incredibly confusing. The book was published in 1935 and the attitudes and descriptions of the Mexicans and women are very much of the time and hard to read in the modern day.
June 20, 2020
I’m a big fan of closed murder mysteries set on trains, planes, or ships, and Vultures in the Sky was a pretty good one. The plot is okay and a lot of 1930s Mexico flavor keeps things interesting. I’m still not quite sure about the ending. Was the detective right all along and someone just put a bow on it all for him, or was that person wholly guilty after all? Regardless, I will definitely check out another Todd Downing. It took a while to get on his wavelength but overall this was a good read. Vultures in the Sky is one mystery that undoubtedly would have benefited from a diagram, though. I, for one, am not familiar with the layout of a 1930s Pullman car. You?
(Yet another mystery with a few similarities to a famous Christie novel.)
(Yet another mystery with a few similarities to a famous Christie novel.)
September 16, 2020
3.5 stars. Who doesn't love a good murder-mystery set on a train? This one is uniquely set on a train heading south through an unrest-charged Mexico in the 1930s, crisply written and fulfilling all the expectations of the tense, limited-circle-of-suspects travel mystery very well. Only reason I shaved off half a star is that the overall tone of the story was a bit grim and fatalistic for me to completely enjoy it. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood for it at the time; I don't know. If you don't mind that and enjoy this type of whodunit, by all means give it a go.
January 13, 2021
A bit disappointing if with compensations, this novel from 1935 is set aboard a train to Mexico City where US customs agent, Hugh Rennert, needs to discover the identity of a murderer on board. The Mexican desert is well-rendered (one night scene is particularly suspenseful) but the male passengers/suspects are not that distinguishable, Rennert is a bit unpleasant to Mexican staff, and, even though well written, it took a while with seemingly endless conversations and some histrionics to establish the murderer. Readable but dated
February 18, 2021
I'm so happy to have discovered a new (to me) mystery author. The sad thing is that he wrote so few books. This one is a classic locked room theme: a train going through the Mexican desert stalls. Passengers and crew are killed, clues are dropped, and the detective on board strives to find out who done it before the final paragraph. Downing's writing is lovely, the plot is well crafted, and the villain is a surprise. My only criticism is that the author spent far too much time on descriptions of smoking. Well, no one's perfect.
January 24, 2022
Not a bad classic mystery. The atmosphere was terrific (the train—which helped create a locked room mystery, the Mexican setting, the potential danger from striking rail workers and the Cristero terrorist group, the engine trouble, etc). At times, though, I wished for some kind of diagram of the train so I could keep better track of where things were. The characters were OK, but occasionally some of the men blended together a bit.
September 20, 2025
A golden age mystery, included in the Otto Penzler collection. Set on a train traveling from Texas into Mexico, the novel offers evocative atmosphere, strongly sketched characters, and a growing sense of dread as multiple murders challenge the protagonist, Rennert. I did not solve the mystery or expect the twist at the end.
July 12, 2021
Very enjoyable mystery. I did not feel like the ending was fully resolved in an explanatory sequence. Good, not great. The writing is mediocre. I give major kudos to the plot, setting, and characters though.
July 15, 2021
Good story about a mystery on an international train. It sort of reminds me of Murder on the Orient Express. Not the same plot, of course, just the idea of it. This was written in the 1930s when Mexico was in turmoil from strikes and rebellions. A lot of danger to contend with.
Read
October 8, 2023I do not like Mysteries. Never have, they are always so underwhelming, and mostly pointless
But Todd Downing has proved me wrong! What a great book, what colorful characters, how fleshed out they were! I will definitely be looking for more of Rennert's Mysteries. Geez, I did enjoy that book!
But Todd Downing has proved me wrong! What a great book, what colorful characters, how fleshed out they were! I will definitely be looking for more of Rennert's Mysteries. Geez, I did enjoy that book!
April 17, 2021
Great atmosphere, did well in what I expected from it. Definitely had a moment at the end where I thought, "Wait, so...?" I guess I'm too used to Poirot explains it all.
June 9, 2021
Mexico-based Murder on the Orient Express. Not my favorite, but enjoyed tremendously by others....
September 29, 2021
I loved it! Brilliantly written! I didn’t figure out the killer. This is a must read book! I hope another one will be published.
November 25, 2024
3 1/2 stars.
August 30, 2017
Un "Orient-Express" messicano
"Quando la polvere del Messico si è posata su un cuore umano, quel cuore non può trovare riposo in altre terre."
Ottima ambientazione: il delitto in treno è un classico del giallo della Golden Age e il deserto messicano fa da sfondo creando l'ambiente adatto per dare l'idea dell'angoscia crescente (i banditi che potrebbero arrivare, i Cristeros...) Buono l'impianto indiziario, ma io ho avuto non poche difficoltà a seguire la ricostruzione dei movimenti dei vari sospettati durante gli omicidi. E, dato che alla fine anche questo era importante, mi è mancato un tassello fondamentale per arrivare alla soluzione prima dell'investigatore. La personalità del colpevole, come dice Rennert stesso alla fine, è un altro elemento importante e un lettore attento può accorgersene facilmente. Una cosa che finora non ho visto rilevata in altri commenti è il parallelo con un altro giallo della Golden Age, ben più famoso: "Assassinio sull'Orient-Express" di Agatha Christie. Quest'ultimo è del 1933 e il bassotto invece è del 1935. Quindi può anche darsi che Downing si sia ispirato alla Christie. Gli elementi paralleli che ho rilevato io sono: il treno ovviamente; un ambiente quasi isolato, in mezzo alla neve nella Christie, nel deserto assolato in Downing; l'isolamento dei passeggeri (in entrambi i libri una causa esterna isola il treno per un tot periodo di tempo); il numero quindi limitato di sospettabili; la durata temporale limitata (circa 24 ore in entrambi i libri, se non erro). E la soluzione che arriva dopo la nottata angosciosa e angosciante, il mattino dopo quando il treno ripartirà e arriverà a destinazione. Un elemento fondamentale della trama soprattutto salta subito all'occhio nel fare il parallelo fra i due libri: nella Christie abbiamo il rapimento della piccola Daisy; in Downing il rapimento del piccolo Montes. Dando per scontato che "Assassinio sull'Orient-Express" è universalmente riconosciuto come un capolavoro, anche "L'incredibile viaggio" alla fin fine risulta essere un'ottima prova.
"Quando la polvere del Messico si è posata su un cuore umano, quel cuore non può trovare riposo in altre terre."
Ottima ambientazione: il delitto in treno è un classico del giallo della Golden Age e il deserto messicano fa da sfondo creando l'ambiente adatto per dare l'idea dell'angoscia crescente (i banditi che potrebbero arrivare, i Cristeros...) Buono l'impianto indiziario, ma io ho avuto non poche difficoltà a seguire la ricostruzione dei movimenti dei vari sospettati durante gli omicidi. E, dato che alla fine anche questo era importante, mi è mancato un tassello fondamentale per arrivare alla soluzione prima dell'investigatore. La personalità del colpevole, come dice Rennert stesso alla fine, è un altro elemento importante e un lettore attento può accorgersene facilmente. Una cosa che finora non ho visto rilevata in altri commenti è il parallelo con un altro giallo della Golden Age, ben più famoso: "Assassinio sull'Orient-Express" di Agatha Christie. Quest'ultimo è del 1933 e il bassotto invece è del 1935. Quindi può anche darsi che Downing si sia ispirato alla Christie. Gli elementi paralleli che ho rilevato io sono: il treno ovviamente; un ambiente quasi isolato, in mezzo alla neve nella Christie, nel deserto assolato in Downing; l'isolamento dei passeggeri (in entrambi i libri una causa esterna isola il treno per un tot periodo di tempo); il numero quindi limitato di sospettabili; la durata temporale limitata (circa 24 ore in entrambi i libri, se non erro). E la soluzione che arriva dopo la nottata angosciosa e angosciante, il mattino dopo quando il treno ripartirà e arriverà a destinazione. Un elemento fondamentale della trama soprattutto salta subito all'occhio nel fare il parallelo fra i due libri: nella Christie abbiamo il rapimento della piccola Daisy; in Downing il rapimento del piccolo Montes. Dando per scontato che "Assassinio sull'Orient-Express" è universalmente riconosciuto come un capolavoro, anche "L'incredibile viaggio" alla fin fine risulta essere un'ottima prova.
September 24, 2020
Interesting plot overall, but a frustrating ending.
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
June 29, 2015
I read a review of this writer in the Post, an homage to a great mystery writer in the vein of Agatha Christie, so I decided to read his most revered work. It really is an engaging tale - very like Murder on the Orient Express - of 9 passengers and some crew on the train going to Mexico from Texas. In the end, I had not guessed the murderer and had not foreseen the desolate ending. A fun, old-school vacation read.
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