Cleo Ballister is traveling on a train across Australia to meet some of her relatives for the first time. One day, Cleo awakens on the train to find that she is suffering from amnesia and can’t remember anything about her life or her identity. It seems that she and another young woman were pummeled by some falling overhead luggage; the other girl was shuffled off the train to a local hospital, and Cleo was left onboard to regain consciousness while the train continues on its journey.

At the next stop, Cleo meets up with her family: wealthy and eccentric Uncle Joe, fussy Aunt Esther, straitlaced Cousin Wilfred with his wife Mary and their outspoken daughter Evelyn, and scheming Cousin Jimmy, who seems convinced that Cleo is going to marry him. However, at the station, Cleo is also met by her phony fiancé, Dr. Clive Butler, who is pretending to be engaged to Cleo at the behest of her real fiancé, Bill—a scheme that is designed to keep the persistent Cousin Jimmy at bay. A confused Cleo certainly has her hands full as she and her new travel party continue on their way across the Outback to Uncle Joe’s house to celebrate Christmas.

As the train chugs its way across the continent, things get even more complicated. Uncle Joe’s paintings are being vandalized. Cleo’s lucky penny is stolen. A suspiciously peroxided doxy called Mavis Montague boards the train and tries to steal Clive from under Cleo’s nose. And there is a barking lizard on the loose, too!

To make matters even worse, persistent Cousin Jimmy intimates that he witnessed Cleo murder their Uncle George last winter; and he expects her to marry him in order to keep his mouth shut.

When flirtatious Mavis and blackmailing Cousin Jimmy are each murdered aboard the speeding train, Cleo quickly becomes suspect number one. But Cleo is increasingly certain that she isn’t really Cleo after all. How will she convince anyone of her true identity, and how will she prove that she’s not a murderess? She and her fake fiancé Clive are in a race to uncover the real culprit before the train reaches its final destination and Cleo finds herself sent up the river for multiple murders.

Great Black Kanba is certainly an example of the Little sisters at their finest. Although it kind of runs out of steam at the end, it is a thoroughly fun and engaging read. The romance in this book is a lot less annoying than it tends to be in other Little works; however, the fact that our heroine finds herself predictably engaged by the conclusion of the story is just plain trite. In spite of the routine romance, this is a highly entertaining book. A talented filmmaker could easily turn this into a delightful movie, and I am surprised that a film adaptation has yet to be made. ( )

I enjoyed the mystery, but I never got captured by the writing. I always knew I was reading a book. There was a distance that I don't experience with my favorite books. Good mystery, fascinating circumstances. I like the amnesia idea. It is interesting to see how it is handled by different authors. It made me curious about Australia. I'm on to read One for the Road a memoir of travel in Australia. ( )