Customer Reviews
Charming but strange - By: Mr. C. H. Shepheard, 18 Aug 2008 
Rather a mixture. Despite the impeccable detail, this story had the feeling of being setin a slightly later period, & I'm not entirely sure why. It might be the dialogue (which I sometimes found pedestrian), or perhaps the Holmesean resonances, especially the characters of the engine driver & his daughter who seemed to me straight out of Conan Doyle, or at least his era. I also found the plot a little thin, espcially the detective's ability to anticipate an outrage at a precise spotin the Crystal Palace, on the slenderest of evidence.
Nevertheless, the story had considerable charm, especially the disarmingly innocent attraction between the detective & the engine driver's daughter. This was refreshing & sensitively done. Indeed the entire book had the feel of being written many decades ago. If the author intended this, then he triumphed.
I shall certainly read more of these. The charm & unique atmosphere for me outweigh the shortcomings & perhaps, when this series gets into its stride (I intentionally read the first story first) it will strengthen further.
A pleasant journey on the Railway - By: Joanne D'Arcy, 11 May 2008 
This is the firstin what has become a series of detective books based around the advent & development of the railways. With any first book we are being introduced to the main characters for future novels interspersed with a detective story.
We are introduced to Inspector Colbeck, a rather dandy sort of character who leads the investigation into a train robbery on the London to North railway line. An ex barrister who has turned to workingin the rather new police force & Detective Department of Scotland Yard to feel like he was absolving some guilt that he is living with. The true reason has something to do with a woman (doesn't it always) & we do not find any great detail about it until the very end.
Along with Colbeck, we have Sergeant Leeming the faithful assistant to him & who although will go along with him, is somewhat stuckin another age before trains, locomotives & speed into the country & is a traditional method policeman. Superintendent Tallis is the stalwart hard working detectivein charge of Colbeck, butin typical fashion is the one who is ridiculed & made to look inadequatein his actions by the Commissioner, who obviously despite perhaps some of the riskier elementsin Colbeck's investigation is favoured greatly by the Commissioner.
The mystery is not taxing & it is quite obvious to come to the conclusion of what happened & why (thoughin my opinion the reason for these crimes is somewhat scraping the bottom of the barrel for a motive). Edward Marston does make all the parts of the mystery tiein nicely together with no loose ends. Good will overcome Evil & even the perpetrator of the crimes is somewhat above a common criminal with his manner.
This is a good & fairly easy read, it took a while to slip into the fact it was 1851 & trains were a new invention & that by jumpingin a cab actually meant a horse drawn one! I was worried to begin with as it smacked of the 1963 Great Train Robbery & I was expecting something a bit meatier.
However, once you take yourself back nearly 160 years you enjoy the journey, the researched information about the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace & the Railways Lines is well done & I look forward to reading other books & experiencing the other mysteries that Colbeck solves.
Robbery on the Mail Train - By: J. Chippindale, 10 Feb 2008 Edward Marston is just one of the pseudonyms of author Keith Miles. He has been a university lecturer, radio, television, & theatre dramatist, &in addition to writing has worked as an actor, director, & 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 & a series of mysteries featuring the Elizabethan theatre as their background.
Once you have become familiar with an author's work, his character's & style of writing it is sometimes difficult to become attuned to a new character & storyline, butin 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 publishedin 2004 & featuring a new characterin the redoubtable Inspector Robert Colbeck. The book is setin a period when the railways were stillin their infancy & not everybody liked traveling on them, &in some cases still preferred the horse. Inspector Colbeck is called to the scene of a train robbery. The driver has been badly beaten & the fireman made to drive the locomotive off the rails, for no apparent reason.
It is not long before Robert Colbeck, barrister, turned police officer has used his ample brain power & intuition to establish that the robbery was not only an attempt & a successful one, to gain money but also the actions of someone who for some reeason has a grudge against the railways . . .
Ho-hum - By: A. Doyle, 05 Dec 2007 
A rather uninspiring read. This book reads like a 1970s cop show. All the stereotype characters are there: the good cop, the faithful sidekick, the cranky interfering boss, the evil well-heeled criminal mastermind, the psychopathic killer, the comely maiden, the disappointed suitor. This is Starsky & Hutch with top hats. The dialogue is very 1970s too, & the plotting. Rather than concentrate on the solving of the crime, the book throwsin a few murders & a kidnapping. Sure, what else would you do when you run out of interestin your characters? Even for train nuts, this book is going to be a let-down: right from the first page where the engine is 'throbbing' at the head of its train. For those who don't know - Mr Marston among them - engines didn't 'throb' until after Rudolph Diesel invented his engine. If you want a good book about murder on the railwaysin the 19th century, read Zola's 'The Beastin Man' ('La Bete Humaine'): it's a cracker. This book, sadly, isn't.
A Ripping Yarn! - By: Snapdragon, 31 Jan 2007 It's Londonin 1851, the railways are slowly establishing themselves as the best means of travel & preparations are underway for the Great Exhibition. A robbery on the railway near Leyton Buzzard & the theft of both money & mail threaten the reputation of the safety of the trains.
Enter Inspector Colbeck, a bit of a dandy, & one of the best detectives with the Metropolitan Police. Will he be able to find those responsible??
This is a great novel, really easy to read, & includes everything you wantin a detective novel of this kind; robbery, treachery, murder, lifein the slums of London, a little love interest & an uptight Chief Inspector.
Cracks along at a great pace & avoids being too 'nerdy' about trains. Recommended.
