Edward Marston

In 1851, after the London to Birmingham mail train is robbed and derailed, Inspector Robert Colbeck enlists the aid of former police officer Brendan Mulryne to help him investigate the crime.

The Railway Detective

Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck is back to investigate two deaths on the rails. Will he catch the murderer before more lives are lost. . .

The Excursion Train

As a train speeds over the Sankey Viaduct, the dead body of a man is hurled into the canal below. Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming take charge of their most complex and difficult case yet. Hampered by the fact that the corpse has nothing on him to indicate his identity, they are baffled until a young woman comes forward to explain that the murder victim, Gaston Chabal, is an engineer, working on a major rail link in France. As the case takes on an international dimension, problems accumulate. The detectives wonder if the murder is connected to a series of vicious attacks on the rail link that is being built by British navvies under the direction of a British construction engineer. Colbeck and Leeming have to survive personal danger, resistance from the French government, broadsides from their Superintendent, and many other setbacks before they solve the crime.

The Railway Viaduct

The latest in the Railway Detective series

Murder on the Brighton Express

An Action-Packed Edwardian Murder Mystery

Murder on the Caronia

Murder on the Brighton Express (The Railway Detective Series)

"Hallowe'en 1861. A special train with two carriages steams across the Lake District at night on its way to a place notorious for its record of supernatural incidents. Most of those on board have been fortified by alcohol so the mood is boisterous. Lighting inside the carriages is poor and without warning, the lamp goes out in the last compartment of the second carriage, plunging it into darkness. When the special reaches the end of its journey, the passengers pour out on to the station platform. There are almost sixty of them in all, laughing and jostling. The prevailing excitement is shattered by a cry - a dead body has been discovered in the seats. This will prove to be a very puzzling new case for the Railway Detective."--Provided by publisher.

Fear on the Phantom Special

1861, East Anglia. Alone in a first-class carriage, the Swarbricks are robbed at gunpoint, but when the universally-admired Swarbrick fights back, the train robber takes more than money and jewellery, killing the man working to unify East Anglia's tangle of railway networks. Inspector Colbeck is brought in from London, as the only detective in Britain with enough expertise for the job. But as Swarbrick's glowing reputation begins to crumble, the line of investigation isn't clear: Is this the act of a bungling burglar, a business rival, a disgruntled son, or a jealous lover? Whoever it is, they are determined to involve Colbeck in their fight. Is the Railway Detective following the right track or will he need to switch points to bring the murderer to justice?

Points of Danger

Yorkshire 1855. Colonel Tarleton deliberately walks into the path of a speeding train and sets the wheels of an investigation in motion. The famous Railway Detective, Inspector Robert Colbeck, must sift through the rumors surrounding the deceased to discover if the suicide was the act of a guilty man.

Railway to the Grave

1854. As the Cardiff-bound train puffs out of Paddington Station, young Hugh Kellow wraps a protective arm around his large valise. He has been entrusted with a priceless silver coffee pot, designed in the shape of a locomotive, by his elderly employer and mentor silversmith Albert Voke. But two of Hugh?s fellow passengers are taking an enormous interest in the valise and as the journey progresses, Hugh?s tongue is loosened and he tells them all about his priceless cargo. It will be the last mistake he?ll make.When a dead body is discovered in a room at the Cardiff Railway Hotel, beside a large empty valise, the great Railway Detective Robert Colbeck and his trusty Sergeant Victor Leeming are called in to investigate, and they soon discover they have a real mystery on their hands

The Silver Locomotive Mystery

Inspector Robert Colbeck enlists the help of Victor Leeming and Ian Peebles to track down his nemesis Jeremy Oxley, who escaped from the LNWR train, which was on route to London for Oxley's hanging.

Blood on the Line

Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming are called from the crime of London to investigate a fatal crash in the southern uplands of the Scottish countryside.

Peril on the Royal Train

Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming investigate the disappearance of a young woman and her maid from a train bound for Oxford.

A Ticket to Oblivion

1859. St Mary's Church, Spondon. A little girl playing hide-and-seek jumps into a freshly-dug grave to find a dead man already occupying it. It is the body of a senior director of the Midland Railway. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming travel to Derbyshire to investigate

Timetable of Death

In this first instalment of the Bow Street Rivals series a riot breaks out in Dartmoor prison, enabling some American inmates to escape. The twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen catch wind of a projected assassination but the target is unknown. Trouble ensues when a woman from the Home Office vanishes; a mysterious lady turns up at the archery shooting gallery; and Paul's gambling addiction worsens...

Shadow of the Hangman

1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots, dies by the executioner's axe, her head, shorn of its auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the ceaseless plotting against Mary's red-haired cousin, Elizabeth? 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror and triumph, not just for queen and court but for the whole of England. The turmoil is reflected in its theatres and under the galleries of inns like London's The Queen's Head where Lord Westfield's Men perform. The scene there on grows even more tumultuous when one of the actors is murdered by a mysterious stranger during a brawl. Nicholas Bracewell, the company's bookholder, a role far wider than mere producer, faces two immediate repercussions. The first is to secure a replacement acceptable to its temperamental star -- and chief shareholder -- Lawrence Firethorn. The second is to keep his promise to the dying Will Fowler and catch his killer. Soon further robberies, accidents, and misfortunes strike Lord Westfield's Men even as their stage successes swell. Bracewell begins to suspect a conspiracy, not a single murderous act, but where lies the proof? Then the players are rewarded with the ultimate accolade -- an appearance at court -- and the canny bookholder senses the end to the drama is at hand.... First published to great acclaim in 1988, The Queen's Head anticipated the lure of bawdy, boisterous, yet elegant epics like Shakespeare in Love. Actor and playwrite Marston has followed with, to date, ten more lusty, historically grounded, theatrically sound Bracewell mysteries that explore the face of England and reveal his deep love for its rich literary and dramatic heritage. The Roaring Boy wasnominated for a 1996 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

The Queen's Head

The Roaring Boy, The (Missing Mysteries)

December 1864. As a cold winter wind scours the Worcestershire countryside, an excursion train comes through a tunnel in the Malvern Hills to be confronted by a blockage on the line ahead. Although a disastrous derailment is averted, the passengers are alarmed. Cyril Hubbleday, the man in charge of the excursion, alights to investigate further, but the angry altercation with the driver is cut short by a shot from a sniper, straight through Hubbleday's head. Christmas is coming all too soon and Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming are under pressure to solve the case quickly. However, with enemies in the shadows behind the seasonal trip, and with strong criticism from the local constabulary, the hunt for a cold-blooded killer is far from straightforward.

The bestselling Victorian mystery series

The Railway Detective's Christmas Case

Perplexing clues lead commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret to the hospital, where a young murder victim named Bertha, found dead with snakebites on her neck, volunteered, and they begin searching for an evil force incarnate

A Novel

The Serpents of Harbledown

William the Conqueror sends Gervase Bret and Ralph Delchard into the lands of Yorkshire to investigate a rogue named Olaf Evil Child, but on the way, they hear rumors of two lions owned by a rich merchant that have been killing people.

Edward Marston

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