The Iron Horse

The Railway Detective #4

by Edward Marston

Derby Day at Epsom Downs. A multitude of people crowd to watch the races: dukes and dustmen, bishops and beggars, privileged ladies and prostitutes--the gamut of Victorian society and a hotbed for crime and crooks of all kinds. With the nation a-flutter in the run up to this national event, a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder, fraud and race-fixing. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant are assigned to the case and are soon snarled up in a web of skullduggery stretching across the country. They are forced to ask themselves, just how much is someone prepared to hazard to win?

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Crime, Historical Mystery, Historical, British Literature

334 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

A pseudonym used by Keith Miles
AKA A.E. Marston

Keith Miles (born 1940) is an English author, who writes under his own name and also historical fiction and mystery novels under the pseudonym Edward Marston. He is known for his mysteries set in the world of Elizabethan theatre. He has also written a series of novels based on events in the Domesday Book, a series of The Railway Detective and a series of The Home Front Detective.


Series contributed to:
. Malice Domestic
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoy this series. The stories draw me in quickly, the characters are well drawn and the journeys and place settings are interesting. And, the tongue-in-cheek humour provides lighthearted fun also. I read the eBook version as the audio wasn't available via my library.

Quote:

Mr. Dowd's question:"Are you questioning my honesty?"

Inspector Colbeck's answer: "I'm saying that you're very parsimonious with the truth, sir. "

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Railway Detective series is always fun to listen to. I’m not so keen on the narrator’s interpretation of women’s voices, but I’m able to look past that. I like the time period these are set in - 1850’s - in Britain. I like Detective Robert Colbeck's growing relationship with Madeleine, I like how he always has an answer for Superintendent Tallis, and I empathise with his sergeant’s trepidation and dislike of using the trains - rather unfortunate for him, since he works with the Railway Detective!!

[Terri Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you ever get the comfortable feeling when you have read a number of books about the same characters that they are like old friends? I feel this way about Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant Sergeant Victor Leeming and the woman Colbeck is courting Madeleine Andrews, an artist whose father is a train engineer.

Set in 1850's London, these books have a delicious Victorian England atmosphere and it is fascinating to watch Scotland Yard solve crimes without the use of telephones, airplanes, and computers.

In this book (4th in the series) Colbeck and Leeming (much like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson) get sent by the overly religious, anti-marriage insufferable Superintendent Tallis to solve a train related crime (since Colbeck IS the Railway Detective). A clumsy accident prone baggage handler had broken his wrist in a home accident helping his pregnant wife and went to work without seeing a doctor. When he was unloading luggage, a fancy woman's hat box flew to the ground and a dead man's head fell out.

This story involves more of Robert and Madeleine's budding romance and with Madeleine getting to unofficially help her man investigate. I am getting a little impatient with how slowly the relationship is going! What adults date for two years and have done no more than hold hands and get a brief friendly kiss upon meeting?

The story centers around a rich bookie, a philandering lord of the realm and an Irish horseowner, all who have horses in the Derby and two who are sleeping with the same woman called Kitty Lavender (no, I am not kidding nor am I kidding when I say her current lover is a man named Fido) who is a sort of slut who only gets involved with rich men.

The story is exciting and it is fun to see Colbeck put the clues together. Gathering clues involves good old fashioned detective work. There are murders, suicides, the whore gets slapped, a poor barmaid who was in love with the severed head and the guy it was attached to helps solve the crime, and we all go to the Derby. There are also mysterious break ins, poisoning, attacks on the top 3 horses, secrets, and Kitty Lavender's half brother who is very suspicious.

Come on, get on the Detective Colbeck/Sergeant Leeming train and read this series. You know you want to. These are written for an intelligent audience and such good reads. I'm on to the 5th one!

[Laura Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably the best in the series so far. The mystery kept me guessing until the end. Poor Sergeant Leeming, however. It seems in every book he is either beat up or hit over the head.

One note about the relationship between Inspector Colbeck and Madeleine. The first book took place in 1851 and this book, "The Iron Horse", is set in May 1854. Robert Colbeck is really dragging his feet. Three years and no hint of a proposal as yet. That might not seem so strange today, but I'd say it's quite a lengthy courtship for the 1850s. I'm hoping he proposes soon or Robert will be nearing retirement before they finally marry.

I do like the way the character of Edward Tallis is written. He is much more believable than some bosses we get in these mysteries. He might not approve of Colbeck's way of dressing or approaching a case, but he is open-minded enough to listen and admit when Colbeck accomplishes his goal. He is very realistic. Madeleine's father, on the other hand, is seriously starting to annoy me. He is obnoxious to a fault. I'm surprised he hasn't demanded Colbeck make his intentions known after three years.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

AROUND THE WORLD READ/CRIME AND MYSTERY
Wales - 2008
"Then, [Horse X] showed perfect temperament by saving his spurt [Marston, REALLY?] until the critical moment...". I enjoy an unexpected laugh like any reader, but instead of 'spurt' I'd have used 'climactic display of equine magnificence'...or anything but 'spurt'. Then again, maybe Marston is going for a laugh. But he gets one.
CAST - 2 stars: Everyone says the same things, over and over. The most interesting character is already murdered by the time the book opens. And the cops talk as follows. Cop 1: "Find [him]. Cop 2: "How?" Cop 1: "By following him..."
ATMOSPHERE -2: The world is changing as trains are replacing horse-drawn carriages. It's Derby Day in England and the huge tattooed almost-naked lady is on display near the race tracks. One very large old lady stoops and urinates. (TMI, IMO) But at 334 pages, this should have been edited down to half that length as the train/carriage arguments take up half the book it seems.
PLOT - 3: A hat box falls off the top of a train, splits open, and reveals the head of a young man. Who is he? Why a hat box? Where is he going? Where is the rest of the body? Why? Good mystery here, really.
INVESTIGATION - 1: Cops keep asking the same silly questions, get the same pointless answers.
RESOLUTION - 1: Cops overhear, by accident, the villian(s?) confess (on page 330!). And not for a moment did I believe why the young man was killed.
SUMMARY - 1.8 stars. This isn't a bad book, and it's okay if you have a couple of hours to pass, say, when you're standing in line for a Covid vaccination but the supply was gone an hour ago. In anger, you can vent (if you're a dastardly villain) by handing "Iron Horse" it to the person behind you (whoops, no, you can't unless both of you are wearing gloves). The big flaw is the ongoing repetition of conversations. At least the squatting lady makes only one appearance, there is that. If you like stories about horses, read Dick Francis.

[Alan Marston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Marston provided me with another page turner, the first book that I have read in less than two days for a very long time. Right from the word go I was drawn into the scheming world of Horse Racing to which Inspector Colbeck is led by a very macabre discovery at Crewe Station. Colbeck is an intriguing detective with some rather unusual methods, ably assisted by Sergeant Leeming, who hates travelling by train, but who is a very thorough policeman, although it does seem that he is the one who is on the receiving end of any rough stuff! Madeleine Andrew, becoming ever closer to Colbeck, is also invaluable in the solving of the crime(s).
Marston has also created a thoroughly detestable Senior Officer in Superintendent Edward Tallis, whose jaundiced view of society makes him very difficult to work for, and he is probably very jealous of Colbeck’s continued success, putting obstacles in his way at every opportunity. The Horse Racing protagonists are also well developed, each of them unpleasant in his own way, each distrusting of the others, and each getting their comeuppance by the time the crimes have been solved.
I think that I knew who the murderer was when he was first introduced into the story, but I was never quite sure until nearer the end.
A good read, must acquire the next one!

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth in the Inspector Robert Colbeck series and it follows in the splendid style of the others. The Railway Detective solves a murder mystery that evolves to the background of the Derby. Superintendent Edward Tallis tries to obstruct the investigation in his usual Inspector Lestrade way but Colbeck and his admirable sidekick Victor Leeming, Watson to Colbeck's Holmes, come through and unmask the perpetrator of the crime - as well as winning some money on the horse race and, for Colbeck, keeping up the love interest with Madaleine Andrews. A cracking read, which leaves the reader asking for more!

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series but it always seems a little unlikely the way Maddy gets drawn into the investigation. I admit that it provides a romantic interest in the stories but I can quite understand Robert's anxiety with regard to the Superintendent finding out that she is there. I am surprised that there wasn't a ruction when she turned up at Epsom. She is asked to do reasonable things alright, especially to talk sympathetically to very upset girls or women, but it would never get past the superiors.
Enjoyed the horses and their owners, although Lord Hendry was a pill and I felt sorry for his wife. I liked the fact that Mr. Dowd would never do anything to harm a horse, he really liked them more than people probably.
The idea that if you ignore the police they'll go away and you won't have to worry about being identified in the press is interesting and points up the feeling of safety you get by having money.
The whole thing full of Victorian attitudes, customs, and problems.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed parts #1 and #2 in this series, but this one was a disappointment. Overly long and leading nowhere slowly, all is built on the runup to the big Derby race and it's a long wait. When it finally comes, it does so with a clunky resolution and all of of sudden, our detective has all the answers that has been eluding us and him throughout the book. There are a whole bunch more in the series, so I can only hope it finds it's steam again, I will try more, but not until after a break.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book in the series, a twist at the end

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed that, his earlier Railway Detective novels are better than his recent ones

[Chuck Ledger · Rating 4 out of 5]

IMO the best in the series so far.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. It's 1854 and Reginald Hibbert a porter at Crewe Railway Station sprains his wrist in an accident at home. Although this appears an insignificant incident the pain he is experiencing results in him dropping a leather hat box from a train later in the day. When the hatbox hits the platform it bursts open revealing inside a carefully packaged human head. Inspector Robert Colbeck of Scotland Yard is sent along with his sergeant, Leeming, to investigate. Having successfully solved 3 notorious crimes on or relating to train travel Colbeck has been named the Railway Detective by the popular press and he immediately begins by finding out where the hatbox was made and sold and to whom.

The purchaser was Lord Hendry, an owner of racehorses. Derby Day is fast approaching at Epsom and when a beheaded body is pulled out of the Thames with the slight stature of a jockey Colbeck's feeling is that the murder is connected to the racing fraternity.

From this point forwards, which is very early in the narrative, apart from a couple of train journeys completed by Colbeck and Leeming, there is nothing further connected to the railways. I have found the charm of this series has been their intrinsic relationship with rail and the development of steam locomotives and the history surrounding that but this novel was almost entirely concerned with the seedy side of the world of horse racing: the fraud, the race-fixing, the nobbling of horses and jockeys, bribery and corruption, betting and gambling addictions.

As always Edward Marston writes an excellent story, well plotted and paced, with engaging characters and on the whole I enjoyed the novel and felt it came to a very successful conclusion. I did however feel disappointed that this really was not connected in any significant way with the railways and it seemed to be diminished in charm for that reason but it was interesting to see the development of the relationship of Colbeck and Madeline Andrews and one in the series not to be skipped because of the continuing themes through the series.

[Claude · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm rather enjoying this series of easy reads.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 2 out of 5]

just too twee and slow moving to really grab my attention

[Karen M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed many other books in this series but this was tiresomely plodding and more than a little contrived. Perhaps it’s just that I didn’t get drawn in to the racing aspect.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Colbeck’s fourth outing as The Railway Detective takes in severed heads, The Derby (and therefore public holidays), an opinionated Superintendent (a staple of the police procedural) and trains, lots of trains. Marston’s characters, with whom I have got quite comfortable, are an easy lot to get on with – Colbeck, his trusty off-sider Victor Lemming and his belle Maddy Andrews have built a set of relationships with us as readers in a genre form that we can be fairly sure what’s going to go on but it remains a very pleasant journey: not too taxing but with a delightful sense of how-exactly-is-he-taking-us-there about it.

When a severed head turns up in a hatbox at Crewe station, the railway company send for Colbeck whose inquiries take him the racing industry, the aristocracy and parvenu wealth – desperate people confident of their own abilities and surety of success, of their horses’ prowess and their rivals as charlatans, and all ready to point the finger at each other. This closed sense of a network wracked with rivalry allows Marston to dissemble and divert so that the exact details of who-dunnit remain shrouded in the complexity of options – although the conventions of the genre point to the most likelys and the absolutely nots of the cast.

As always, Marston paces his work well and keeps us trotting along as the tension rises and uncertainty over The Derby – the event at the centre of the story, and taking up about 1½ pages of the 340 or so – tempts us away from a focus on the head-in-the-hatbox, in part through the threat to each rival’s horse. Engaging and entertaining, but although Marston has done some of his research well, there remains a slightly jaundiced view of the racing industry, but he certainly conjures up a sense of Epsom on Derby Day.

It’s all good fun – Derby Day and the book.

[John Mahony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Railway Detective case.

A head falls from a hat box as it is being unloaded from a train. It is found to belong to an Irish stable hand and its discovery directs Inspector Colbeck to three prominent racing men whose thoroughbreds are to run in the Epsom Derby.

Lord Hendry has staked everything on his horse, the favourite. Bookmaker Hamilton Fido’s runner has strong claims as does the horse trained by the Irishman Brian Dowd.

Hendry is an outrageous snob who treats women abominably. The urbane Fido can’t stand Hendry and the feeling is mutual. Both Hendry and Fido mistrust Dowd and accuse him of sharp practices.

And Dowd, being an outsider, becomes the obvious murder suspect.

A quick read. Apart from presenting the mystery well, Marston depicts a realistic mid 19th Century racing scene with the frauds and fixers, the punters and prostitutes drawn to Epsom on Derby Day.

[Scilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Colbeck, known as the railway detective is called at Scotland Yard to go to the railway station in Crewe. A man's head has fallen out of a hat box on the platform. They find that the hatbox had belonged to Lord Henry. They find the hatbox had belonged to Lord Hendry who had been at a hotel in Cambridge with his wife. It later turns out it wasn't his wife there with him. Then they find out there are three horses who are favored for the upcoming Derby, Lord Hendry's Oddysseus, the bookmaker Hamilton Fido's Merry Legs, and the Irish man Brian Dowds horse Limerick Lad. Colbeck gets the idea that the head in the hatbox was being sent to Ireland to try to remove Limerick Lad from the Derby. Colbeck learns that a worker at Dowd's who wasn't allowed to be a jockey had gone to Fido's stable.

Colbeck and Leeming have a lot of work to figure things out among the three devious horse men. The derby finally comes, but I won't reveal what happened.

[Steven Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Derby Day at Epsom Downs. A multitude of people crowd to watch the races: dukes and dustmen, bishops and beggars, privileged ladies and prostitutes. The gamut of Victorian society and a hotbed for crime and crooks of all kinds. With the nation a-flutter in the run up to this national event, a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder, fraud and race-fixing. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant are assigned to the case and are soon snarled up in a web of skulduggery stretching across the country. They are forced to ask themselves, just how much is someone prepared to hazard to win? This case go from London to Ireland and trust me there more than one crime in this one.

[Taylor's♡Shelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's something so oddly ridiculous about murder mysteries set before accessible refrigeration and photography. Rather than storing it in a freezer in some lab and carrying around a photograph, the police are justing carrying around a dismembered head in a box under their arm for reference. I love it. Give me more.

The was my second Inspector Colbeck novel and I loved it as much as the first. There's something so adorable about Colbeck's gentle and empathic demeanor when it calls for it. His tenderness to the porter at the beginning and Kitty at the end I think sets him apart from similar characters in other series and keeps him from feeling like an overused archetype.

I'm thrilled to continue this series.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 2007, 'The Iron Horse' is the 4th in the series of novels about London-based Detective Inspector Colbeck, and set in the 1850s. Colbeck's expertise in crimes connected with the railways is the handy pretext for him gallivanting all over the country, which goes some way to add interest. The authors style of utilising a lot of often eccentric stock characters works well here, in a murder mystery connected with the 1850s horse-racing scene. The plot is more than a little contrived, relying on some characters withholding evidence for the flimsiest reasons in order to stretch the story out, but hey, Marston's stories work mainly because the wonderful characters.

[Henrik Havighorst · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Shenanigans and this time, it's all about the races instead of trains, even though the victim happens to be found on a train. All in all, it is another entertaining romp through ye ole' England and it benefits from the same mainstays as the series as a whole. I am not keen on horseracing so naturally, this gimmick did not a lot to improve my joy while reading the book, but Marston's keen eye for a sharp dialogue and subtle humor (especially when daggers are crossed with the superintendent) are great.

[Karen Norris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series isn’t one I would usually go for but I really enjoy the writing and the way the stories flow. The way the author brings the characters to life is brilliant.. I like how Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck works and Sergeant Victor Leeming feelings about railways make me chuckle but together they are a brilliant team.
Its not the same kind of stories over again but always something new, reading these books also have a way of taking you to the time and crime in question like you are there and can feel the atmosphere.

Will continue with this series that I have in my collection.

[christine newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow what a book, I couldnt put this instalment down at all, great characters with quirky names, racehorses to make your eyes water, money you can only dream about, riches only won in the lottery, murder in abundance
compulsive reading, the iron horse maybe the trai or maybe the race horse, irish stock
a complicated murder, but made simple, loved every minute of it.
inspector Tallis even had a flutter, my god, let his guard down
storyline grew and grew which was fab
I managed to work out the murderer/s in this one, very pleased with myself

[ke · Rating 3 out of 5]

i honestly didn’t realise this was a series somehow 😭 it was pretty decent considering lmao but it just wasn’t necessarily a book i would’ve picked up if it wasn’t for the cover but i did enjoy it a bit tbf !!

i didn’t like the way women were written about in this,which wasn’t a lot and i know it was set in the 19th century but idk i still wasn’t a fan of it 😅

i can definitely see why people are fans of this series though, it’s got a good plot and it’s written well just not really my type of book and style
( yet i have two other of his works so i guess i’ll be reading more 😂 )

[Chrystyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Iron Horse by Edward Marston - OK

This seemed, to me, to be only tenuously linked to railways and maybe that's a good thing.

A disembodied head is discovered in a hatbox on a train in Crewe. Of course, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are called in to investigate and it leads them to the world of Horse Racing and Derby Day at Epsom. Someone is trying to scare the race horse owners and influence the result of the race.

The usual mix of incident and adventure before the case is solved. Nice easy read.

#review

[Helen Ennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story from Edward Marston though less of a railway based story and more of a tale of suspense. A severed head being discovered in a hatbox at Crewe station sets a puzzle for the Railway Detective, a tale which builds to the Epsom Derby and around three trainers with horses in the race. Each could be to blame as they all hate each other but eventually Robert Colbeck gets to the bottom of it.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marston does his best Dick Francis impression, as the Railway Detective (thanks to a head discovered in a hatbox) ends up trying to figure out which of three owners of Derby favorites are trying to kill the other.

As with the other books of the series, this one is a fun page turner. The culprit was pretty clear early on, but that's ok, for a cozy mystery like this its about the journey, and Marston cast of characters are quite fun to visit with.

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accident prone baggage handler drops a trunk on a hat box and out rolls a human head. Detective Robert Colbeck and his assistant are assigned to the case and are soon snarled up in a web of mystery stretching across the country. This story was slower than the previous one but still a good read.