The Railway Detective

by Edward Marston

Book Overview

London 1851. With the opening of the Great Exhibition at hand, interest is mounting in the engineering triumphs of the railways, but not everyone feels like celebrating... In an audacious attack, the London to Birmingham mail train is robbed and derailed, causing many casualties. Planned with military precision, this crime proves a challenge to Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck who fights to untangle a web of murder, blackmail and destruction. As...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0749083522
• ISBN13: 9780749083526
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Allison & Busby
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Good, straight mystery in an interesting genre

The Victorian detective mystery is a classic genere but it goes for a ride in a different direction, on an early train, in Marston's THE RAILWAY DETECTIVE. Before there was Sherlock Holmes, there was Detective Robert Colbeck of Scotland Yard, proto-railfan and serious investigator. In 1851, he embarks on his first adventure, aided by loyal Sergeant Leeming and harassed by his martinent boss. In this first of an apparent series, Marston starts with the deliberate derailment of a train carrying gold bullion and the Royal Mail. Colbeck must investigate a straightforwardly presented set of suspects, and link the case to a series of subsequent murders. The plot is without curveballs, googlies, or whatever they are in cricket, or any odd Deau-ex-machina or non-sequiters. Instead, it's a good yarn and the time and place of early-mid victorian London and England are brought to life with nice, crisp descriptive prose. This isn't a profound or profoundly complex book, but it is fun, diverting, and has some good historical fiction worked in. Mystery buffs and train spotters alike will enjoy it!

Marston engineers another series scenario!

If Edward Marston stays true to his writing history, his legions of fans can welcome a new series! In "The Railway Detective," Marston introduces us to Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck of the new Scotland Yard. A charming, some say "dandy," gentleman of the Victorian school, Colbeck seems an unlikely person for his job--solving cases and catching the crooks in 1850s England. It is the dawn of the age of the locomotive and it does not come peaceably. There are enough "foes" of this "new fangled contraption" and many will go to all ends to try to put a stop to it and the new Age that is surely dawning on the British Empire. Early on we know who the culprits are, as Marston doesn't play games with the reader. Instead, he permits Colbeck and his Sergeant Leeming to methodically put the pieces of the puzzle together and, despite the usual suspects and the usual obstacles, arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. A train is highjacked in Chapter One and subsequently and deliberately de-railed. It is carrying gold bullion from the Royal Mint and the day's mail. The robbery is carried out with true military precision (a clue Colbeck quickly picks up). It is such a perfect and professional job that Scotland Yard knows that there have to be "insiders" involved. A few murders later (Colbeck cleverly links them to the robbery), the case is put to rest. Marston doesn't do histrionics and not a lot of melodrama. Instead, he tells a story that not only serves to keep out interest in solving the crime but provides much readable background of the time and place. There's the usual violence in a police procedural murder mystery and Marston also throws in a limited romantic turn, too! Marston's historical series (The Nicholas Bracewell Elizabethan mysteries, the Redmayne series, and the Domesday Books series) stand on their own merit. The author jumps a few centuries and seems to fit right in. That said, readers will hope for more in this interesting era. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

A deadly race against a criminal mastermind

Set in London 1851, The Railway Detective is an exciting period piece mystery revolving around a perfectly planned train robbery. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck must investigate the crime and unravel a tangled web of murder, cover-ups, and ruthless ambition. Escalating into a deadly race against a criminal mastermind, with the life of a beautiful women held hostage in the balance, The Railway Detective skillfully combines high-stakes action with lasting intrigue.