Search results for ""author edward marston""

1860, Wimborne, Dorset. Rebecca Tullidge, miserably married to her callous husband, is having an affair with a railway officer, who she finds dead on the railway tracks. Determined to win votes for the upcoming election of mayor, Mr Feltham calls for Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Lemming to solve the hideous crime, which takes longer than anticipated. With a pregnant wife at home, Colbeck must work at speed if he is to return in time to be there when he becomes a father.

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1857. On the LNWR train to London, a criminal is being escorted to his appointment with the hangman. But the wily Jeremy Oxley, conman, thief and murderer, has one last ace up his sleeve - a beautiful and ruthless accomplice willing to do anything to save her lover, including cold-blooded murder. When the Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck learns that Oxley, his arch nemesis, has escaped, black memories of their shared past leave him no choice but to do his duty, whatever the cost. With the faithful Victor Leeming at his side, Colbeck must use all of his skills to track his elusive enemy. But could he have finally met his match?

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February, 1918. In the small hours of a cold morning, a burglary in Limehouse has escalated into a sinister siege between a band of thieves and the authorities, and a police constable lies dead. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy hasten to the scene where attempts at talking the men into surrendering have been met with stony silence. When the door is eventually battered down, Keedy bravely leads the way in. Then a gunshot is heard: Keedy has been hit. While his partner is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the burglars, following leads as to their previous targets and overall goals. As defenceless Keedy remains in the sights of the murderous thieves, Marmion delves into the secrets that lie behind this fatal incident ...

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Egypt, 1908. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, used to the grand opulence of the Cunard cruise line, are at first disappointed with the Marmora, a small, unimpressive ship owned by the P&O shipping line. Employed by P&O to be the ship's detectives, Dillman and Masefield expect to encounter the usual assortment of petty thieves and confidence tricksters. But this cruise is certain to be unique as the Duke and Duchess of Fife and their children are aboard and the detectives will provide security for the royals. And when a dead body turns up, the voyage proves to be one to remember. Keeping the demise of the poor victim a secret on such a small ship is tough enough but suspects abound, meaning Dillman and Masefield have their work cut out for them. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series casts off for a new generation of readers.

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A maritime mystery from Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective series. September 1907. George Dillman sets sail from Liverpool to New York on the Lusitania's maiden voyage. Posing as a passenger, Dillman is in fact an undercover detective hired by the Cunard Line to keep an eye out for petty crimes. But after some uneventful days aboard, the ship's blueprints are stolen and then a body is found. As Dillman works to get to the bottom of the crimes, he makes an unusual friend, first-class passenger Genevieve Masefield, and the two uncover secrets aboard the ship that prove explosive. The Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk in 1915 by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. Lusitania held the Blue Riband prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing and was briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of the Mauretania. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is relaunched for a new generation of readers.

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York, 1865. A passenger train stands ready to depart amid the bustle at the station. The flurry of passengers and porters, the swooping pigeons and barking dogs are thrown into a state of turmoil when an explosion rips through the brake van of the train, killing guard Jack Follis. In response to a summons from the North Eastern Railway, Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are sent to investigate. Was it an accident, deliberate vandalism or targeted murder? The longer the investigation goes on, the more complex it becomes. With a dizzying array of suspects and motives, will the combined skills of the detectives be enough to identify and catch the culprit?

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November 1907. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield sail from Liverpool to New York on the maiden voyage of the luxurious Mauretania. Employed by the Cunard Line again as private detectives, they pose as passengers on what proves to be a very eventful crossing. Dillman is instrumental in rescuing a crew member from being washed overboard in severe weather, but he is unable to save one of the first-class passengers from the same fate. At first, it looks like a case of death by misadventure, but is the presence of a record shipment of gold bullion on board just too great a coincidence? Dillman and Genevieve must fathom the motive for murder before it is too late. At the time of her launch, the Mauretania was the largest moving structure ever built. She would later serve as a WWI hospital and troop ship. After returning to civilian service, Mauretania was retired and scrapped in the mid-1930s. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is relaunched for a new generation of readers.

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Southampton, 1910. When the Oceanic sets sail its ultimate destination is New York. But it must make one very important stop first: at Cherbourg, to pick up internationally renowned financier and art collector J. P. Morgan, fresh from a continental buying spree. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, the ship's detectives, are nervous about the presence of such an important passenger, not to mention his valuable cargo. After all, it is rare for a transatlantic voyage to pass without incident for the two sleuths. The everyday difficulties of managing passengers including a charming rake intent on causing mischief and a controversial painter travelling with his bohemian wife and his alluring French model, are brought to a pitch when a major art theft takes place and a throat is cut. Dillman and Masefield must draw upon all their experience to find the killer before it is too late. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is making waves with a new generation of readers.

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While hunting in the Forest of Arden, Henry Beaumont discovers the crushed body of a former member of his household. Flying into a rage, he soon arrests Boio, a local blacksmith, who was seen in the area, though the man disputes this. Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret arrive in Warwick to find the place in a frenzy. Though there to resolve property disputes on behalf of William the Conqueror, the pair are soon involved with preventing a miscarriage of justice, as the evidence against the blacksmith is flimsy at best. But with Beaumont deaf to reason, the race is on to find the anonymous man the blacksmith claims can corroborate his story before he's sent to the gallows.

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London, 1817. Outside the Covent Garden Theatre, a crowd is desperate for a glimpse of actress Hannah Granville after her latest performance - including the Prince Regent himself. But before she emerges a gunshot sounds, and a man lies dead amidst the ensuing chaos. It proves to be Sir Roger Mellanby MP, whose political leanings towards social reform had made him many enemies not just at Westminster but within his own family. After a curt dismissal from the Bow Street Runners, Mellanby's friend Seth Hooper engages twin detectives Paul and Peter Skillen to investigate the MP's killing. Elsewhere, the assassin's own problems are just beginning ...

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1917. The Lotus Hotel offers sanctuary for its exclusively female clientele, attracting the cream of London's society. But a dead body found in one of its rooms is hardly good for business, and when it is discovered that the woman was neither a guest nor a member of staff, the Lotus's reputation as a safe haven is cast in doubt. Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are dispatched to look into the events at the hotel and soon suspect foul play. Tangling with a forgetful widower, a wily competitor and the haughty hotel owner, the pair will have to delve into the past to solve this crime in the present.

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1817. Dawn breaks on a summer's day in Chalk Farm, London, and the scene is set for a duel between a lady's two ardent admirers. Paul Skillen has been teaching Mark Bowerman how to shoot properly and, although he is not sanguine of his chances, stands as his second. Although the duel is broken up, the passions behind the duel seem to spill out into the full light of day when Bowerman is stabbed to death in a stranger's garden. Paul and his twin Peter are determined to see justice done and are soon enmeshed in threads of inheritance, treachery and fraud.

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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 silversmith employer. But two of Hugh's fellow passengers are taking an enormous interest in the young man and his precious cargo. When a dead body is discovered in a room at the Cardiff Railway Hotel, beside an empty valise, the great Railway Detective Robert Colbeck and his trusty sergeant Victor Leeming are called in to investigate; and face a whole host of unexpected problems.

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Murder turns the journey of a lifetime into a deadly nightmare The plague has struck London once again but so has opportunity for theatre company Lord Westfield's Men. Invited to perform at the wedding celebrations of Sophia Magdalena, the fair maid of Bohemia, the company's bookholder Nicholas Bracewell and his acting troupe begin the long journey across Europe. Confident they will arrive safely and deliver Lord Westfield's secret missive to an alchemist in the Imperial Court, Nicholas is unaware what danger travels with them. Treacherous seas become the least of Nicholas' worries when one of their actors is savagely killed. To make matters worse, when they finally arrive in Prague, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II proves to be an eccentric and bewildering host and Nicholas' beloved Anne Hendrik is kidnapped...

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May, 1915. While thousands of Britons fight in the tranches, a severely depleted police force remains behind to keep the home front safe. In London, the sinking of the Lusitania sparks an unprecedented wave of anti-German riots and arson attacks across the city. Among the victims is the immigrant tailor Jacob Stein, found dead in his burnt-out shop. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy must take on this case of cover-ups and contradictions and track down Jacob's killer - a hunt which carries them from the crime-ridden streets of wartime London to the chaos of the front line. But is the murder simply the result of a tragic excess of wartime hysteria, or perhaps a more premeditated crime?

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For Lord Westfield's Men, every high road leads to death. When the deathly horrors of the Black Plague decimate the audiences in London's theatres, the acclaimed troupe of players called Lord Westfield's Men take to the high road to seek out fresh audiences. But wherever they go, they are thwarted by misfortune, and are baffled by mysteries. Their scripts are stolen, their players abducted. A dead man walks, and a beautiful woman hears the voice of God. Only one man is clever enough to match swords with the troupe's burgeoning troubles. Upon Nicholas Bracewell, the company's bookholder and mainstay, falls the burden that may cost him his life - as they head for an ancient inn called the Trip to Jerusalem, where the last act of a bloody drama is about to begin.

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His name was Will Fowler, an actor in the esteemed theatrical company called Lord Westfield's Men, a vibrant young man flushed from the success of a recent performance at the Queen's Head theatre. So exuberant was he that he persuaded the resourceful manager of the company, Nicholas Bracewell, to quaff a pint or two at a nearby pub. Alas, it was to be Will's last taste of beer. A tavern brawl left him dead - but not before he gasped for Nicholas to find his fast-fleeting, red-bearded murderer and administer a just revenge. Yet finding Will's murderer in London's dark, crowded streets was a seemingly impossible task - not to mention the fact that Lord Westfield's Men were just commanded to appear at the court of Elizabeth I - an honour one dare not refuse. . .

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A PERILOUS INVESTIGATION IN THE HEART OF LONDON RAVAGED BY THE GREAT FIRE September 1666. Meeting in the ashes of a devastated London, Christopher Redmayne, an architect with Cavalier instincts, and Jonathan Bale, a Puritan constable, are hardly kindred spirits. Redmayne dedicates himself to rebuilding the city that Bale believes was destroyed by its own inner corruption. The two men are thrown together when they catch thieves who are stealing from the house that Redmayne has designed for Sir Ambrose Northcott. The foul murder of Sir Ambrose joins them again, albeit reluctantly, in a complex and dangerous investigation that takes them through the brothels and gaming houses of Restoration London, right to the heart of the King's court.

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When Sir Julius Cheever's son, a notorious rake, goes missing, and a blackmailer begins terrorising London's most dissolute fops, it seems plausible that the two events are connected. Divided by politics but united in a desire to see justice done, Christopher Redmayne and Jonathan Bale must combine forces once again. But how can they hope to find those who exploit the scandal of others, when the victims themselves will do anything to maintain their anonymity? And what of Sir Julius's son? Most feel he must have been the victim of his own, debauched appetites, but a few talk of his repentance. So where is the repentant rake? And, with only lies, rumours and gossip to work with, can Redmayne and Bale ever hope to find him?

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An eagerly awaited collection of brand new, specially commissioned short stories from the master of historical crime fiction Edward Marston, featuring his quick-witted Railway Detective, Inspector Robert Colbeck. In this thrilling selection of stories, a young porter is found dead in a coal tub; Colbeck devises a trap to catch a thief; and a burnt train carriage holds a gruesome secret in a small coastal village. As Colbeck and his trusty aide Sergeant Victor Leeming begin to piece together clues and motives for each crime, it becomes clear the pair must stay a step ahead of the culprits to solve the cases. With a new suspect at every turn, can the duo unearth the real villains? Including 'The End of the Line' and 'The Barber of Ravenglass', jealousy, vengeance and duplicity all collide in this supercharged anthology, proving once again, that Inspector Colbeck is the master of mysteries.

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Tragedy strikes close to the Detective Department when an old friend of Superintendent Tallis walks to meet a speeding train head on. The suicide, prompted by the disappearance of the man's wife, has shocked the local community and leaves plenty for Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, to uncover. Whispers and rumours abound but did the dead man, Captain Randall, really take his own life in repentance for some harm he did his wife?

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Christmas, 1669. In the grip of the coldest winter for years, the River Thames is frozen from bank to bank and London celebrates with a traditional frost fair held on its broad back. Revellers come from far and wide to enjoy the spectacle: an ox is roasted, booths set up and entertainers employed to amuse the crowds enjoying the holiday atmosphere. Among the throng is ambitious young architect Christopher Redmayne, escorting the daughter of one of his clients with whom he hopes to further a romantic attachment. By chance they meet Christopher's good friend, Constable Jonathan Bale. When a child slips on thin ice the pair make a chilling discovery of a frozen naked corpse embedded in the ice.

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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.

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Chicago, 1931. While the Great Depression has tightened its grip on the world, there are still some who have the means to make their dreams a reality. One of these men is Hobart St John, who wants a mansion in the suburb of Oak Park. For young Welsh architect Merlin Richards, the opportunity to work on the house is an answer to his prayer. But Richards' elation soon turns to confusion and fear. A body has been found on site hanging from a rafter. The authorities dismiss it as suicide but how can that be the case when his hands were tied behind his back? Richards' dream assignment is fast becoming a nightmare, and he realises that the answers he wants might cost him his life.

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February, 1918. In the small hours of a cold morning, a burglary in Limehouse has escalated into a sinister siege between a band of thieves and the authorities, and a police constable lies dead. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy hasten to the scene where attempts at talking the men into surrendering have been met with stony silence. When the door is eventually battered down, Keedy bravely leads the way in. Then a gunshot is heard: Keedy has been hit. While his partner is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the burglars, following leads as to their previous targets and overall goals. As defenceless Keedy remains in the sights of the murderous thieves, Marmion delves into the secrets that lie behind this fatal incident ...

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New York, 1908. Private detectives George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield plan to take a break from work upon the Cunard Line's fleet with the offer of employment upon the Minnesota, a freighter and passenger vessel, which is bound for the Far East. Although the pair are investigating the possibility of a smuggling operation on the route, at first all appears to be smooth sailing, but the voyage takes a dire turn when a fiery Catholic missionary is murdered and it proves to be the first in a series of crimes that plague the crossing. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series sets sail for a new generation of readers.

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Disaster strikes at the Sapperton Tunnel in Gloucestershire when a goods train collides with an unusual blockage on the line: seven sheep penned onto the tracks. Specially requested to investigate the carnage, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are confronted with a bizarre case unlike anything they've encountered before. Stephen Rydall, board member of the Great Western Railway that manages the route, is convinced this tragedy is a personal attack on him and fears for the safety of his shepherd, missing since the incident. Rydall has many enemies but, as Colbeck will soon discover, the man also has a closely guarded secret of his own...

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As Nicolas Picard rides home from Exeter he is attacked by a snarling wildcat. Yet, when his body is discovered, there are lacerations on his neck that could only have come from human hands. When royal commissioners of William the Conqueror, Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, arrive in the city to preside over local land disputes, their proceedings are immediately hampered by the death of a key participant: Picard. With Picard's wife and mistress, as well as the wife of the former owner of the estate, staking their claim to the land, Delchard and Bret wonder whose greed has driven them to kill. But the root of the mystery lies far deeper than mere avarice.

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Pentonville Prison. Wally Hubbard is serving a long sentence for arson. But after befriending and tricking one of the officers, Hubbard makes an audacious escape. Inspector Marmion, the detective who arrested Hubbard, is warned to watch his back, but it seems that Hubbard has another target in his murderous sights. However, the investigation is mired in confusion, the identities of killer and victim become increasingly ambiguous. An inmate at an internment camp who might be a spy sending intelligence to the Germans complicates matters further, and the multiplying manhunts, as well as Marmion's concern for his injured and withdrawn son Paul, leave the detective desperate and perhaps with too many threads to untangle.

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1817. Clemency van Emden receives an anonymous terse message informing her that her estranged father is dead and buried. A chance encounter on a busy London street leads her to twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen, who agree to help her unravel the mystery of her father's last days. However, Paul's attention is diverted away from London to Bath, as he seeks to thwart a daring band of highwaymen, one of whom appears to have more than just jewels on his mind. When the body of Clemency's father is discovered to be missing from its casket, the twins embark on a chase of graverobbers, funerary agents and Good Samaritans to unearth the truth.

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June, 1917. While German Gotha bombers raid London from above, a man's body is fished from the Thames below. The man had been garrotted and his tongue cut out before he was left to his watery grave, and as the killer has taken care to remove identifying items and even labels, Detective Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy struggle to name the victim before they can begin properly with their investigation. As family and business associates are found, the list of suspects grows ever longer, and as Marmion wrangles with the case, he and his family must also contend with their anxieties for his now-missing son Paul. The interminable presence of war and, closer to home, pitched battles in the East End between rival adolescent gangs, suggest the Home Front is more insecure than ever before. With great care, Marmion must pick his way along a twisting path that will lead him towards the killer.

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Young Imogen Burnhope and her maid Rhoda board a non-stop train to Oxford to visit her Aunt Cassandra, who waits on the platform at Oxford station where the train terminates, to greet them. Only they never arrive. All the passengers alight but the two women are nowhere to be seen. The train is searched and the coachman swears he saw them board onto first class, but they seem to have vanished into thin air. The Railway Detective must unravel the mystifying web of their disappearance before Imogen and Rhoda vanish into oblivion for good.

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January 1916. Britain is on the brink of enforcing conscription. Eligible young men who have not yet signed up to fight are despised as 'conchies' and 'shirkers', subjected to hatred and verbal abuse. Cyril Ablatt, leader of Shoreditch's group of conscientious objectors, makes a rousing speech at a meeting of the No-Conscription Fellowship, refusing to be 'an instrument of slaughter in a khaki uniform'. When Cyril is brutally bludgeoned to death, Scotland Yard detectives Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy are assigned to the case. As the pair build up a portrait of Cyril, they unearth an intriguing private life behind the man's saintly facade. It soon becomes clear there are plenty of suspicious characters with motives for the killing. Meanwhile, public sympathy is lukewarm. Some people even claim that a conchie deserves to die if he won't fight for King and Country. And in the wake of the murder, three close friends of Ablatt fear that they may also be under threat. Marmion and Keedy will have to work fast to find the killer before any more deaths occur . . .

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December 1860. Headed for the morning shift at the Swindon Locomotive works is an army of men pouring out of terraced houses built by the GWR, a miniature town and planned community that aims to provide for its employees from cradle to grave. Unfortunately, boiler smith Frank Rodman is headed for the grave sooner than he'd expected, or he will be once his missing head is found. Colbeck, the Railway Detective, finds his investigation into Rodman's murder mired in contradictions. Was the victim a short-tempered brawler, or a committed Christian and chorister who aimed to better himself? On the trail of Rodman's enemy as the season starts to bite, Colbeck finds little festive cheer in the twists and turns of this peculiar case.

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March, 1918. British newspapers carry the dreadful news that the German Spring Offensive has begun, with thousands of British lives lost. Detective Sargeant Joe Keedy is awaiting release from hospital in London and is anxious to resume the fight against crime on the Home Front. Late one night, a bank is raided by a gang and the villains escape by car with a sizeable haul. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion is put in charge of the case, but without Keedy at his side he faces an uphill battle to solve this perplexing case.

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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 Colbeck closes in on the criminal masterminds, events take an unexpected turn when the beautiful Madeleine, daughter of the injured train driver, becomes a pawn in the criminals' game. With time running out, good and evil, new and old, battle against each other. But will the long arm of the law have speed on its side? The Railway Detective is an action-packed dip into murky 1850s London. Full of historical detail, unexpected twists and memorable characters, this is a mystery that will surprise you at every turn.

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New York, 1910. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield have crossed the Atlantic Ocean numerous times in their capacity as ship's detectives. On those crossings they've had the pleasure, and in some cases the trouble, of sailing with very famous passengers. Dukes. Duchesses. Artists. Actors. Musicians. Royalty. But few names have quite the level of fame and fortune as their fellow traveller Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Now aboard the Celtic, Dillman and Masefield have a particular stolen book to recover and an elusive fugitive to apprehend, but will the famous writer help or hinder them? Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series is making waves with a new generation of readers.

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New York, 1908. While waiting to embark on the Caronia, the Cunard Line's famous ocean liner, private detectives George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield are startled to witness the boarding of a man and woman in shackles. They discover that these prisoners are being brought back to England by Scotland Yard to face trial for murder. Over the course of the crossing, while managing purse-snatchers, burglars and drug traffickers, Dillman and Masefield come to believe that the captured couple may not be the vicious criminals some might think. But pursuing the hunch that they are innocent becomes harder when a killer strikes on board. Dillman and Masefield will need all their wits to navigate the waters ahead. Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series sets sail for a new generation of readers.

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The ordered calm of Gloucester Abbey is shattered by the murder of one of its monks. The Abbot, ill-equipped to deal with such a heinous crime, is stunned by the Sheriff's belief that one of the monks is guilty. This is the confusion that that greets the two Domesday Comminisioners, Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret, as they are welcomed into the town. Eager to resolve the mystery, they begin their own investigations but find the killing is merely a sign of a sinister presence which threatens the whole community and which must be stopped.

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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?

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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 . . .

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When fire destroys their London theatre, Lord Westfield's players must seek out humbler venues in the countryside. But company manager Nicholas Bracewell is distracted by a shocking tragedy: a mysterious messenger from his native Devon is murdered by poison. Though the messenger is silenced, Nicholas understands what he must do: return to his birthplace and reconcile some unfinished business of the past. The rest of Westfield's Men, penniless and dejected, ride forth with him on a nightmare tour that will perhaps become their valedictory, dogged as they are by plague, poverty, rogues, and thieves. And among the sinister shadows that glide silently with them toward Devon is one who means Nicholas never to arrive . . .

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In June 1916, a young woman named Charlotte Reid is found murdered in a cinema. Harvery Marmion and Joe Keedy are assigned the task of finding the killer who so elusively fled in the dark. Before long, two more victims, of striking similarity but differing backgrounds, are found dead around the city. Meanwhile, miles from home, Marmion's son Paul prepares for life on the front line as he marches towards the Battle of the Somme.

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He had the power to assume a pleasing shape, but would he take to the stage . . . ? The audience was merry indeed when a third devilish imp bounded onstage to join the two that had been written into the script. But backstage all was uproar. The third demon seemed too much like the real thing. Even Nicholas Bracewell, the company mainstay, was shaken when, next time the play was given, only one devil appeared. The second, poor fellow, was now only a little red heap backstage. Murdered. Before the curtain rose again, Lord Westfield's Men would suffer the sermons of a puritan fanatic, the enchantment of passion, the terror of a London madhouse, prophecies of a famous alchemist, and danger as they'd never known it before . . .

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1863. Young student, Bernard Pomeroy, flies into a panic when he receives a letter in the early hours of the morning. Leaving a note for a friend with a porter at Corpus Christi College, he rushes for the next train leaving Cambridge. However, shortly after disembarking at his destination, the undergraduate lies dead on the platform. Summoned by the master of the college, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming begin to investigate Pomeroy's untimely demise. But it seems that Pomeroy had ruffled many feathers during his short tenure at the University. With academic disputes, sporting rivalry and a clandestine romance in play, the Railway Detective will have to disentangle the many threads of Pomeroy's life in order to answer the truth of his death.

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December 1917. Ada Hobbes arrives on a frosty morning to clean the house owned by Dr Tindall, a surgeon at the Edmonton Military Hospital. She is shocked to find the blood-covered body of her employer sprawled across the floor. He has been hacked to death. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Joe Keedy arrive to a horrific scene. Someone enjoyed killing him, without a doubt. Their investigation takes them far out of London and on the trail of a very different Dr Tindall, one who was not the respectable local doctor everyone thought he was. Marmion and Keedy will need to sift through a number of likely suspects to find the killer behind this gruesome murder.

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October 1854. As an autumnal evening draws to a close, crowds of passengers rush onto the soon to depart London to Brighton Express. A man watches from shadows nearby, grimly satisfied when the train pulls out of the station. Chaos, fatalities and unbelievable destruction are the scene soon after when the train derails on the last leg of its journey. What led to such devastation, and could it simply be a case of driver error? Detective Inspector Colbeck, dubbed the 'railway detective' thinks not. But digging deep to discover the target of the accident takes time, something Colbeck doesn't have as the killer prepares to strike again.

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London, 1852. On the shocking discovery of a passenger's body on the Great Western Railway excursion train, Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, are dispatched to the scene. Faced with what initially appears to be a motiveless murder, Colbeck is intrigued by the murder weapon - a noose. When it emerges that the victim had worked as a public executioner, Colbeck realizes that this must be intrinsically linked to the killer's choice of weapon. However, the further he delves into the case, the more mysterious it becomes. When a second man is strangled by a noose on a train, Colbeck knows that he must act quickly; can he catch the murderer before more lives are lost? The memorable characters, first featured in The Railway Detective, again lead you down unexpected paths in their quest to solve the mystery of the noose murders.

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