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theresashingler's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
helenephoebe's review against another edition
4.0
Review - This is the third series I have read of Edward Marston's (the others being the Nicholas Bracewell and Bow Street Rivals series). This one doesn't let you down in that it's engaging and adds in little twists and turns that you don't expect. The historical detail is rich, and it couldn't be set at any other time than Victorian London. There is plenty of humour and, mixed with the historical detail, this makes the book well worth reading if you're looking for a cosy crime novel.
Genre? - Historical / Crime / Mystery
Characters? - Inspector Robert Colbeck / Madeline Andrews / Caleb Andrews / Victor Leeming / Edward Tallis / Brendan Mulryne / Humphrey Gilzean / Thomas Sholto / William Ings / Frank Pike
Setting? - London & Birmingham (England)
Series? - Railway Detective #1
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 18/20
Genre? - Historical / Crime / Mystery
Characters? - Inspector Robert Colbeck / Madeline Andrews / Caleb Andrews / Victor Leeming / Edward Tallis / Brendan Mulryne / Humphrey Gilzean / Thomas Sholto / William Ings / Frank Pike
Setting? - London & Birmingham (England)
Series? - Railway Detective #1
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 18/20
weaselweader's review against another edition
3.0
A cozy police procedural series!
Victorian England in the 1850s is the dawn of the locomotive age. Trains are supplanting the use of horses, carriages and canals as the method of choice for economic movement of goods and personal travel. But there are those who think of the trains as an industrial abomination, a blight on the pastoral beauty of England's countryside and unthinking "progress" that should be fought and halted on every possible front.
The Railway Detective is a very clever and entirely enjoyable introduction to Inspector Robert Colbeck, an intelligent, innovative and imaginative up-and-coming detective in the relatively new Scotland Yard of 1851. He has been assigned by his hidebound, equally unimaginative and outrageously old-fashioned Superintendent to the case of a train robbery. The brilliantly orchestrated theft of an enormous amount of bank gold and a number of bags of en-route mail together with the brutal pistol whipping of the engineer who dared to confront the robbers all pointed in the direction of a heist carefully planned with almost military precision. The use of inside information from the train company, the bank and the post office also seemed to be a foregone conclusion. The questions were why and how??
Marston makes excellent use of all aspects of his Victorian England setting to produce an effective historical novel. Class distinctions are convincingly maintained by the conduct and the dialogue of his cast of characters. But Marston's decision to reveal the culprit of the piece far too early in the novel, reduces what would have been a clever mystery to little more than a cozy and somewhat predictable police procedural that relies for its quality on dialogue and characterization.
Despite this decision that, were I Marston's editor, I might have suggested be done differently, The Railway Detective is an enjoyable start to a new series. The love interest in the story was both charming and heartwarming. I'm sure it will form a part of the upcoming novels in a new series that I'm looking forward to. I'll look forward to reading the next novel in the series and seeing if Marston has chosen to make his mystery just a little more challenging.
Recommended.
Paul Weiss
Victorian England in the 1850s is the dawn of the locomotive age. Trains are supplanting the use of horses, carriages and canals as the method of choice for economic movement of goods and personal travel. But there are those who think of the trains as an industrial abomination, a blight on the pastoral beauty of England's countryside and unthinking "progress" that should be fought and halted on every possible front.
The Railway Detective is a very clever and entirely enjoyable introduction to Inspector Robert Colbeck, an intelligent, innovative and imaginative up-and-coming detective in the relatively new Scotland Yard of 1851. He has been assigned by his hidebound, equally unimaginative and outrageously old-fashioned Superintendent to the case of a train robbery. The brilliantly orchestrated theft of an enormous amount of bank gold and a number of bags of en-route mail together with the brutal pistol whipping of the engineer who dared to confront the robbers all pointed in the direction of a heist carefully planned with almost military precision. The use of inside information from the train company, the bank and the post office also seemed to be a foregone conclusion. The questions were why and how??
Marston makes excellent use of all aspects of his Victorian England setting to produce an effective historical novel. Class distinctions are convincingly maintained by the conduct and the dialogue of his cast of characters. But Marston's decision to reveal the culprit of the piece far too early in the novel, reduces what would have been a clever mystery to little more than a cozy and somewhat predictable police procedural that relies for its quality on dialogue and characterization.
Despite this decision that, were I Marston's editor, I might have suggested be done differently, The Railway Detective is an enjoyable start to a new series. The love interest in the story was both charming and heartwarming. I'm sure it will form a part of the upcoming novels in a new series that I'm looking forward to. I'll look forward to reading the next novel in the series and seeing if Marston has chosen to make his mystery just a little more challenging.
Recommended.
Paul Weiss
iainkelly_writing's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
2.25
Undemanding historical crime fiction. Unfortunately its very perfunctory in style, lacking style or atmosphere and characters that are very one note and generic. The criminals are revealed midway through, there's never any jeopardy or doubt that the police will get their man. Indeed, the ease with which the detective leaps from one - always amazingly accurate - conclusion to the next becomes rather laughable. Disappointing. Plenty of better examples of the genre out there.
h_r_potter's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is a reasonable book, but would benefit from the characters being given as much description as the locomotives! A slow start, it only really picks up in the final third, which is a shame. I would have awarded four stars, but the poor editing lets it down. There are a great many mistakes which are obvious and jarring enough to interrupt the reader’s enjoyment.
kmg365's review against another edition
1.0
This is the very definition of a 1-star book: I didn't like it. When I one-star something, it's not uncommon for me to be well beyond dislike. I'm often mad at how bad the book was, and how absolute drivel gets published. I completely understand how this got published, and I even understand why this is a successful series with more than 20 volumes to date.
I can't remember what made me track down the first book in this series. I'm not particularly a railroad fan, but I do enjoy books set in England. When I had been listening for an hour or so, I looked up the year it was written, because it was coming across as something written perhaps seventy to a hundred and twenty years ago. But it was written in 2004. It's not that the text was wonderfully evocative of the year 1850-- it's that the text was so dry, straightforward, and devoid of modern sensibilities, and the characters were straight out of central casting. That explains why I didn't like it-- and why enough other people did like it that the series is still chugging along today.
So while I won't be reading any more in the series, if you are someone who doesn't want to read any swear words, who wants the characters to be clearly identifiable as either good or bad, enjoys a dash of romance so mild and brief that you may miss it altogether, and wants a plot to unfold exactly as you'd expect it to with no surprises-- you might love it.
maddie00987's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
poppy_04's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75