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The Excursion Train (The Railway Detective Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Edward Marston
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £2.73
You Save: £4.26 (61%)
New (33) Used (12) from £1.00
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 30991
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0749082372
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780749082376
ASIN: 0749082372
Publication Date: June 29, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from the UK Mainland within 2 working days.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Second Book in the Series April 14, 2008
J. Chippindale (Yorkshire, England)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
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 treats train travel with more than a little trepidation 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.
Martons is on time with this series! July 22, 2007
Billy J. Hobbs (Tyler, TX USA)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
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.
 Entertaining Read and a good series of stories November 13, 2006
traveller guy (London, UK)
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
Excursion train is a nicely paced whodunnit. The murder happens at the start of the book and the story of the investigation unfolds leaving you guessing and re-assessing your guess as you go along. The book is littered with beliveable characters doing believable things and does not lead you to be incredulous as to dismiss anything. The detctive does not have a super human ability, for example the Sherlock Holmes eye for the slightest detail, nor an accomplice such as Patrica Cornwall's Medical Examiner-come-investigator's niece who mysteriously has the ability to do what is needed from hacking into computers, shooting accurately to flying helicopters etc. as the plot demands it!
In this series, Edward Marston gives the reader information and the opportuinty to solve the crime as they read on - unlike some stories where the important information does not come out until the detective or whoever, uncovers the murderer!
Entertaining read November 7, 2006
Book Lover (London, UK)
13 out of 17 found this review helpful
After thoroughly enjoying the first in this series by Marston, The Railway Detective, I picked up The Excursion Train. I wasn't disappointed as this one had more of the same intriguing plot, likeable characters and colourful scenes. Robert Colbeck, dandy-cum-inspector, is a very readable hero and I look forward to the third in the series coming out in paperback.
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