The Railway Detective: The bestselling Victorian mystery series: 1

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Harvey Marmion and Sergeant Keedy, Home Front detectives, are involved in a siege. When Keedy bravely leads a charge into the house, he is shot. He is moved to a military hospital for emergency surgery. Caleb Andrews – Engine driver who is proud to work for the L&NWR. This pride often surfaces in criticisms of other railway companies and especially of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Western Railway (GWR). He is a "short, wiry man in his fifties with a suppressed energy". He was widowed five years earlier and is largely reliant upon his daughter Madeleine, who keeps house for him in Camden and "looks after him with a mixture of kindness, cajolery and uncompromising firmness". The latter is necessary because Caleb is opinionated and can be stubborn even when proved wrong. Caleb is nevertheless determined to see Madeleine happily married.

The atmosphere of mid-19th-century London is potent, and a series of unforgettable characters emerges in a detective story with a difference." William (Bill) Ings – Former Post Office official and one of only four employees who knew about the gold consignment. Ings has sold out to Gilzean and Sholto. Having quit his job and left his wife, Ings is pursuing his gambling habit and living with prostitutes until meeting Sholto for his payout. An intriguing dip into murky, mid-1850's London, full of twists and memorable characters, and a mystery that will surprise you at every turn." Polly Roach – Aging prostitute in the Devil's Acre, for whom Ings has deserted Maud. Roach's possessiveness drives him away and he takes up with Kate Piercy instead. Roach, seeking revenge after being cast aside, finds their bodies.

The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case– December 1864. An excursion train enters a tunnel in the Malvern Hills and is met with an obstruction on the railway ahead as a chilly winter wind sweeps the Worcestershire countryside. The train is slowed down by the driver to lessen the impact, but the passengers are worried. Cyril Hubbleday, the guy in charge of the tour to the lovely spa resort of Great Malvern, is the first person to go. A sniper shoots Hubbleday to death while he is speaking to the guard, driver, and fireman at the front of the locomotive. Coming from American author Keith Miles (under the pseudonym Edward Marston), the author of the Home Front Detective novels, the Railway Detective is a series of historical mystery novels. Richard Mayne – Senior Commissioner at Scotland Yard. The only real person playing an active part in the novel. Harry Seymour – Youngest gang member, brother of Vernon Seymour. Formerly a private in the 10th North Lincoln.

Find sources: "The Railway Detective"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( April 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Edward has also worked as a director and an actor for a short period and also owned a professional theater company. Edward has also served as a drama teacher in a prison and worked as an editor for the stories of a film company situated in Pinewood. In his career spanning around 50 years, Edward has written more than 40 plays for the radio, theater and television. He has even completed a drama series comprising of hundreds of episodes. But today, Edward has left everything else and tries to concentrate on the development of his mystery series’. His nautical mysteries under the pseudonym Conrad Allen are set in the Edwardian era, the first of which, “Murder on the Lusitania” was released in the year 1999. Edward’s first historical mystery novel was released under the title “The Queen’s Head” in the year 1988, which launched the Bracewell series. Under his original name Keith Miles, he has written a total of 6 novels based on the crime genre. These novels feature the main protagonist, Alan Saxon. Edward has set all the novels in different countries each having different settings, the latest of which was released in the year 2004. The Railway Detective was nominated for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award 2006. Herbert Shipperley – Post Office supervisor responsible for mail coach scheduling. His information, when interviewed by Leeming, posits William Ings as a prime suspect.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. Isadore Vout – Miserly moneylender in the Devil's Acre. Ings has borrowed from him but now owes nothing. Vout is obliged to assist Mulryne in his search for Ings and Roach.

Kate Piercy – Young prostitute with whom Ings is co-habiting when he is due to meet Sholto again. Piercy is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is killed as a witness to Ings' murder. Exploring the historical context of the development of the British railway system during the Victorian era, Edward Marston’s Railway Detective series offers a richly detailed portrayal of the social, economic, and technological changes brought about by the growth of the railways in 19th-century Britain.Arthur Jukes – Senior gang member who is "a big, bulky man in his thirties with ginger whiskers". Jukes had been a non-commissioned officer (NCO) under Gilzean and Sholto in India. Thomas Sholto – The same age as Gilzean, Sholto is tall, well-dressed and has a full beard. Gilzean and Sholto met at school and were afterwards commissioned in the same regiment before serving in India together. Sholto was a captain who retired on the same day as Gilzean. He is now Gilzean's right-hand man and enforcer. He killed Ings and Slender when they met him for their share of the loot. Vernon Seymour – Gang member who lives in the notorious Seven Dials district. Formerly a private in the 10th North Lincoln. Edward Marston was born and brought up in Wales. He read Modern History at Oxford then lectured in the subject for three years before becoming a full-time freelance writer. His first historical mystery, The Queen's Head, was published in 1988, launching the Nicholas Bracewell series.

Frank Pike – Caleb's L&NWR fireman when the train is robbed. He is a friend of the Andrews family outside work. This is how history mysteries should be: fine storytelling, marvellous characters reminiscent of the great authors of the mid-Victorian period, and a sneaky mystery, too."

The Excursion Train was nominated for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award 2007.