A Christmas Railway Mystery
Swindon is rocked when the headless body of a man is found in the GWR Works. Colbeck is summoned to the railway town to solve the brutal crime. With Christmas only ten days away, a complex case is the last thing he needs. He is not helped by the appointment of an old enemy as acting superintendent at Scotland Yard, a man determined to throw his weight around.
While involved in one crime, the Railway Detective is alarmed to hear of another - the abduction of Superintendent Edward Tallis, who is in Kent to attend a reunion at his old regiment. Colbeck and Leeming find themselves in a hectic race to catch a killer in Swindon before joining in the search for Tallis - and Christmas is getting ever nearer.
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Timetable of Death
In the twelfth novel in the Railway Detective series, Colbeck and Leeming go to Derby to solve the murder of the man tipped to become the next Chairman of the Midland Railway. They meet resistance from the local police and all manner of serious problems, not least the reluctance of the family of the deceased to provide information. Matters are not helped when Superintendent Tallis turns up keep an eye on them.
The investigation takes them all over the county but it is only when Colbeck's wife, Madeleine, is involved that they make real headway. Appropriately, when Colbeck has a guided tour of the Derby Works, he unearths a vital clue that helps him, in due course, to identify the villains.
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Inspector Colbeck's Casebook
Thirteen tales from the Railway Detective. Colbeck investigates everything from the theft of a famous painting by Turner to the murder of a railwayman whose body is found beneath a pile of coal.
There is also a visit to the first church built by a railway company and an encounter with Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale.
"Edward Marston is a master storyteller."
Daily Mail
Railway To The Grave
In his seventh outing, Inspector Robert Colbeck faces his most daunting case yet. A retired colonel, whose wife has gone missing, commits suicide under the wheels of a train. Common opinion is that he murdered his wife and sought to escape justice.
Superintendent Tallis, who knew the man well from his days in the army, refuses to believe that his old friend was a killer. He travels to Yorkshire with Colbeck to find out what really happened to the missing wife and why the bereaved husband took his own life.
The detectives meet with great hostility, not least from the local vicar who refuses to have the body of a suicide victim buried in consecrated ground. When the corpse of the missing wife is found, the investigation takes a different turn altogether and the Railway Detective has to wade through a mass of conflicting evidence.
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The Silver Locomotive Mystery
Inspector Colbeck's sixth outing takes him to South Wales to investigate a murder at the Railway Hotel and the theft of a silver coffee pot in the shape of a locomotive. Key witnesses are members of a touring theatre company performing Macbeth at the Theatre Royal in Cardiff. When the leading lady suddenly vanishes, it seems as if the Scottish play has brought disaster to yet another troupe. As the crimes multiply, Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming have to dash to and fro on the railway system. Even though they have the assistance of Jeremiah Stockdale, the town's chief constable, their efforts are nevertheless hampered at every turn. When they finally run the villains to ground, they are in for a great shock.
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Murder on the Brighton Express
1854. The fifth novel in the Railway Detective series confronts Robert Colbeck with his most difficult assignment to date. Travelling at top speed, the Brighton express comes off the line and collides with an oncoming ballast train. The official view is that the disaster is a result of driver error but Colbeck believes that the crash was deliberately engineered. In the course of his investigations, he encounters a whole range of problems. One of the survivors of the crash is being stalked by a killer. In order to solve the accumulating crimes, Colbeck has to protect the victim and put his own life - quite literally - on the line.
"Marston continues to produce historical crime writing of the first order, replete with authentic period detail, a vivid cast of characters and a plot that makes for compulsive reading."
Good Book Guide
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The Iron Horse
The fourth outing of the Railway Detective is based around the Derby of 1854. When a porter unloads luggage from the roof of a train in Crewe, he drops a trunk on to a lady’s hatbox and breaks the strap. As the hatbox opens, a human head rolls out. It is the beginning of a case that takes Inspector Robert Colbeck to Ireland, where one of the favourites for the Derby is being trained, and sets him off on a trawl through the nobility, crooks and undesirables who live off horseracing.
Overcoming his dislike of train travel, Sergeant Victor Leeming is eager to be involved because he hopes he may pick up valuable tips about the Derby itself. The detectives follow a tortuous route through the London underworld and soon discover that they have more than one serious crime to solve. Their efforts are hampered by the fact that there is a spy in Scotland Yard who is warning one of their suspects about their movements. The action builds to a climax at Epsom where the Derby brings the three fancied horses together and unleashes further crimes. Colbeck and Leeming – aided by Madeleine Andrews, who gains information that only a woman could glean - have to work at full stretch to bring the villains to book.
"This is how history mysteries should be: fine storytelling, marvellous characters reminiscent of the great authors of the mid-Victorian period, and a sneaky mystery, too."
Sherlock Holmes Magazine
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The Railway Viaduct
The third outing for Inspector Robert Colbeck propels him into a complex case that takes him to France. A man is stabbed to death then hurled over the Sankey Viaduct from a moving train. When he discovers that the victim is a French engineer, Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, travel to France where the British contractor, Thomas Brassey, is building a railway between Mantes and Caen.
The project is plagued by vandalism and the detectives have to solve the crimes on French soil before they can pick up the trail to the villains back in England who perpetrated them. When he involves his beloved, Madeleine Andrews, in the murder inquiry, Colbeck learns once again how valuable a contribution a woman can make. He is also given an insight into the wild humour, violence and squalor of the camp inhabited by Irish navvies.
"A cops and robbers tale with a dimension of crackling suspense."
Good Book Guide
"Marston takes this important period of history and makes it his own."
Reviewing the Evidence
"Marston's excellent new historical series features a Victorian detective with attitude. Strongly recommended."
Library Journal
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The Excursion Train
An excursion train carries rowdy passengers to an illegal prize fight in Berkshire. As the crowd surges from the train, a murder victim is left behind. Inspector Robert Colbeck discovers that the dead man was a cobbler, living under an assumed name because he worked part-time as a public executioner. His work on the scaffold has made him countless enemies but a recent bungled execution in Kent gives Colbeck the break that he needs.
Based in Ashford, a railway town, Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, have to solve the crime for which an innocent man was wrongly executed before they can catch the hangman's killer.
The Excursion Train was nominated for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award 2007.
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The Railway Detective
1851. The London to Birmingham mail train is stopped and derailed, injuring the driver badly. Inspector Colbeck is faced with the first crime of its kind, a daring and well-organised train robbery that rocks the railway company, the postal service, the Royal Mint and the bank to which the substantial amount of gold coin was being sent. With the Great Exhibition in the offing, interest is mounting in the engineering triumphs of the railways but it seems that they have dangerous enemies.
Colbeck's investigation makes good progress but is thrown off course by the kidnap of Madeleine Andrews, the beautiful daughter of the injured train driver and a young woman for whom Colbeck has more than a passing affection. His commitment is intensified.
"A thoroughly enjoyable mid-Victorian romp."
The Observer
"An intriguing dip into murky, mid-1850's London, full of twists and memorable characters, and a mystery that will surprise you at every turn."
Crime Time
"The atmosphere of mid-19th-century London is potent, and a series of unforgettable characters emerges in a detective story with a difference."
The Good Book Guide
"Colbeck proves to be every bit as motivated as the thieves, giving this tale a dimension of cracking suspense."
The Good Book Guide
The Railway Detective was nominated for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award 2006.
Inspector Robert Colbeck |
The novels
| Inspector Robert Colbeck - series titles: |
| The Railway Detective |
| The Excursion Train |
| The Railway Viaduct |
| The Iron Horse |
| Murder on the Brighton Express |
| The Silver Locomotive Mystery |
| Railway to the Grave |
| Blood on the Line |
| The Stationmaster's Farewell |
| Peril on the Royal Train |
| Timetable of Death |
| A Christmas Railway Mystery |
| The Circus Train Conspiracy |
| Points of Danger |
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