The Excursion Train

Edward Marston is just one of the pseudonyms of author Keith Miles. He has been a university lecturer, radio, television, and theatre dramatist, and in addition to writing has worked as an actor, director, and dramatist. He has written a large number of books with historical themes, perhaps the most well known being his Domesday series. These revolve around the census of 1086 and a series of mysteries featuring the Elizabethan theatre as their background. Once you have become familiar with an author's work, his character's and style of writing it is sometimes difficult to become attuned to a new character and storyline, but in this case the author seems to have come up with yet another winner, although his Domesday books will always be my own particular favourites.. This is a new venture for the author published in 2005 and following on from The Railway Detective and featuring a new character in the redoubtable Inspector Robert Colbeck. The book is set in a period when the railways were still in their infancy and not everybody liked traveling on them, and in some cases still preferred the horse., treating the railways with a great deal of suspicion. One thing that the railways was eminently capable of was getting a great deal of people to a destination far quicker than any other form of transport and this is what takes place when a large crowd of people bound for an illegal prize fight in the country board the Great Western Railway train. So boisterous is the crowd that the train guard fears for the safety of his carriages. However, even he does not expect the brutal murder of one of his passengers. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, who himself has more than a little trepidation of train travel, are called to the scene and initially are baffled by what appears to be a murder without motive. When another man is murdered on a train by the same method, Inspector Colbeck knows that he will have to move swiftly to apprehend the killer before further lives are lost.

Edward Marston has four quite successful historical fiction mysteries. In his newest of these (the Inspector Robert Colbeck Series), Marston explores yet another era in British history, the Victorian Age, and more specificially, his protagonist Colbeck is a Scotland Yard detective who not only specializes but thrives on railway cases. In this the second of the series, "The Excursion Train," Colbeck and his assistant Sergeant Leeming are called in to investigate a bizarre murder on an excursion train (where the passengers were specifically headed for a prize fight, illegal, of course, as it's Victorian England). The victim is found garrotted on board the train. Soon, the detectives discover the identity of the body--a former hangman for the Queen's Court, a much loathed man, who, from some accounts, deserved the killing as he'd been the executioner of a man many considered to be innocent. And before we've completed the journey, another body is found murdered in the same fashion. And it turns out, the victim is also related, in a fashion, to the original execution. Thus, Marston is now on the right tracks, bound for glory. The first man's death, his occupation, the execution, and a nearby village all come into play as Colbeck and Leeming are all aboard for another exciting mystery ride, with all "issues" cleared up by the end. This series seems to show Marston at his writing best, as the books move at a fast pace, seem more historically researched, and capture the setting quite well. And it's not all "Hamlet, Act V" with all those bodies piling up. Colbeck's romantic interest, Madeline Andrews, from the first episode is also featured, to help in a change of pace. Marston skillfully incorporates her into the hunt and the reader finds her a welcome addition, the love interest not being too syrupy (it's all quite proper and Victorian), melodramtic, or distracting. "The Excursion Train" leaves on time and reaches its destination with few hitches or stopovers, and the reader can settle back and let the author do all the driving. It's a good, enjoyable read.

Before there was Sherlock Holmes, there was Detective Robert Colbeck of Scotland Yard, proto-railfan and serious investigator. In 1852, he embarks on his second adventure, once again aided by his loyal sergeant and harassed by his martinent boss. You needn't have read the first book (THE RAILWAY DETECTIVE) to enjoy this mystery. A cobbler is brutally murdered on an excursion train to a prizefight. It turns out that the 'cobbler' is also a hangman, and not a very good one. Who killed him and why? Will other murders follow? 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!