Edward Marston

April 1867. Amid the usual bustle at King's Cross, a large wooden box is loaded onto a train bound for Lincoln, its watchful escort insistent it remain in sight. But a daring robbery derails those plans, leaving behind a dead man and a vanished treasure. Detective Inspector Colbeck is called in after a plea from the Dean of Lincoln Cathedral to find the killers and recover a priceless silver model of the cathedral. With the annual Horse Fair flooding the city with visitors, Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming must navigate a web of confusion to track the culprit, although Colbeck grows certain the thief is still close at hand. But time is short, and the Railway Detective faces one of his most complex cases yet.

April, 1867. A train departs King''s Cross station bound for Lincoln. Among the passengers is a man attired in the garb of one in high ecclesiastical office. He is accompanied by a brawny man carefully carrying a large leather bag, who ensures that they are not joined by any other travellers in their first-class compartment.Back at Scotland Yard that evening, Detective Inspector Colbeck is alerted to news of a brutal murder and robbery on the train. The urgent request for help from the Bishop of Lincoln states that a man has been shot dead and something of great value, a silver model of Lincoln Cathedral, has been stolen.Colbeck is more and more intrigued by the case as he and Sergeant Leeming follow the lines of inquiry, and he is convinced that the killer and thief is still close at hand. But with the city bursting at the seams for the annual Horse Fair, the timing is far from ideal and further complicates a challenging case for the Railway Detective. A classically told crime series with historical background and railway focus used to great effect Marston made the Top 50 Most Borrowed Adult Author list in the most recent PLR figures Over a million copies of the series sold to date in the UK trade alone - Marston is on track to continue as one of A&B''s bestselling authors The TV rights to the Railway Detective series have been sold

Shrewsbury, 1866. At the Station Hotel, staff struggle in vain to rouse Mr Julian Lockyer who requested an early wake-up call to catch a train. When they force open the door, they are horrified to discover a bloodied corpse in the bed, a knife still in the dead man''s hand.Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, is dispatched to investigate and soon begins to question whether this is really a case of suicide. For why would a man reaching the pinnacle of his career, about to be named the Chairman of the Great Western Railway, choose to take his own life? And why was his trip to Shrewsbury a secret from his family?Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming must probe deeply into Lockyer''s life and lies to find the answers and to catch the killer. A classically told crime series with historical background and railway focus used to great effect Marston made the Top 50 Most Borrowed Adult Author list in the most recent PLR figures Over a million copies of the series sold to date in the UK trade alone - Marston is on track to continue as one of A&B''s bestselling authors The TV rights to the Railway Detective series have been sold

Shrewsbury, 1866. At the Station Hotel, staff struggle in vain to rouse Mr Julian Lockyer who requested an early wake-up call to catch a train. When they force open the door, they are horrified to discover a bloodied corpse in the bed, a knife still in the dead man''s hand. Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, is dispatched to investigate and soon begins to question whether this is really a case of suicide. For why would a man reaching the pinnacle of his career, about to be named the Chairman of the Great Western Railway, choose to take his own life? And why was his trip to Shrewsbury a secret from his family? Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming must probe deeply into Lockyer''s life and lies to find the answers and to catch the killer. A classically told crime series with historical background and railway focus used to great effect Marston made the Top 50 Most Borrowed Adult Author list in the most recent PLR figures Over a million copies of the series sold to date in the UK trade alone - Marston is on track to continue as one of A&B''s bestselling authors The TV rights to the Railway Detective series have been sold