Murder on the Great Northern Railway: The bestselling Victorian mystery series

The Railway Detective #24

by Edward Marston

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.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published September 18, 2025

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

[Cristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little too much filler

I’ve read every book in this series and some a 2nd time. However I’ve been disappointed in this edition.. I felt there was a Lot of extra words that didn’t need to be there.
Having said that ..I still love the Railroad Detective.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry as I can be to say that this is the weakest book in the series. The crime which included the theft of an original silver replica of Lincoln Cathedral and the murder of the guard accompanying it, was interesting and proved very difficult to solve with Superintendent Tallis playing the biggest role in the eventual arrest of the leader of the group along with his 3 associates. However, the rest of the book was just bad. Colbeck and Leeming played minor roles and both seemed out of their depth. A great deal of space was taken up with constant complaining by most of the characters. Madeline’s father spent most of the time sick and in bed so he wasn’t as insufferable as usual. However, the author chose to turn the brave Lydia Quayle to a woman afraid of her own shadow after being manipulated by one of her servants. That whole story should never have been included. Madeline Colbeck had been reduced to a very secondary character who spent the entire book babysitting her pushy father and her nearly hysterical friend, Lydia. There was absolutely no contact between she and her husband. I will hope for a better next book.

[Richard Worrall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have read all the books in this series…. But never bought a copy - thank goodness…all borrowed from local libraries over the years…

Why you might ask …?

Have been intrigued how such a formulaic, repetitive and frankly tedious style of writing can get such good feedback as this specific book is now the 24th published in the series…

Have concluded I suffer from a new addiction - ‘cozy crime morbidity’ - waiting for some form of improved product to metamorphosise from the constant dross proffered …

If you want one dimensional characters, ludicrous plotting with metaphorical holes / omissions and repetitive dialogue between the said characters, enjoy ….. if you like books which are padded out by historical narrative: these are for you….. equally reminiscent of a slightly adult version of the Enid Blyton books I read to my children decades ago….. they would repeat the same story with a few changed names.

Wait with bated breath for the next edition ……

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed most of the recent books in this series, giving three of the last five books a four star rating, but this book was a disappointment. It seemed to drag throughout and the "subsidiary story lines" were even worse. The "Lydia Story Line" was whiny and totally uninteresting, seemingly put into the book for nothing more than "filler", as it had absolutely nothing to add with the plot. Several other characters were annoyingly whiny as well, including the silversmith, the Bishop and Leeming, who also seems that way in most of the other books as well. In addition, I don't know why the author makes all the characters who are in a "supervisory position" seem so vicious and dictatorial and not just Edward Tellis (the Scotland Yard Supervisor in this series), but also the two Supervisors in the Home Front Detective series as well. All three are written as being totally over powering, unbending and egotistical.

[Joshkun Mehmet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this latest instalment in Edward Marston's railway detective series.

The main plot could easily have been wrapped up in the first third of the book, but instead, it was unnecessarily stretched out—primarily with a drawn-out and implausible subplot involving a mystery intruder at Lydia Quayle’s house. This side story felt overblown and detracted from the core story. Most of the characters seemed consumed by anxiety, constantly rehashing the same concerns, which became repetitive. As for the railway theme, it was barely present, aside from the detectives travelling by train between London, Lincoln, and Peterborough.

Overall, the book lacked the tight plotting and railway intrigue that usually define the series.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Twee nonsense.

Colbeck doesn’t make deductions or do any detective work, only blithely states something wildly and just happens to be completely correct.

So many sections are just endlessly repetitive and do nothing to further the plot - honestly once you’ve read the first conversation between the Dean and the Bishop you can just skip over their POV sections each time because they just have the same conversation again and again.

Madeline and Lydia’s subplot (if one could even call it that!!!) made me want to scream. It was so so many pages and nothing to show for it.

So so many dialogue sentences started with “Anyway,”

[Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It maybe time to end the long run of the 'Railway Detective Series' as all of the magic had disappeared in this novel. In this book the story is more about the friend of the detectives wife and the feelings of those affected by events around the stolen item rather than the crime and investigation itself. Not only was the storyline repetitive but harping back to how people became aquatinted has also run it course.The author has become derailed IMO.

[Garth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have to say I've read better Edward Marston books. I've now read all of the Railway Detective series but feel this one was a book to far. For me this seemed like two short stories merged together to fill the requisite number of pages. If there is to be another in the series, I'll probably read it but hope it will return to the previous higher standard.

[Steve Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

very little railway, lots of simpering women (and men - Lemming esp.). change the town names and the railway name, the story could be anywhere in the UK. no mention of unique GNR locomotives (Stirling Single) no mention of the Digswell Viaduct, very boring writing about the Railway Detective.
an eminently missable collection of writing.

[Zosia Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually give these books a five star rating but this one sadly not. I feel Mr Marston has milked this series one book too many. The whole back and forth of discussions, going over the same old information got a bit tedious. Also the Kitty sage really grated on me.
I'm glad I bought it on kindle for 99p special offer and didn't have to pay more for it.

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t wait to finish this one. Definitely my last in this tired series. Colbeck is a smug bore, Tallis has gone senile, and Lydia Quayle could do with a dose of laudanum. The same information is repeated time and again. And there was precious little railway in it.

[Gary Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder on the Great Northern Railway

Another excellent Inspector Colbeck novel from Edward Marston. Well put together plot as always with several sub plots to keep the book moving along.

[Mark Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

superb as always

Great plot , plenty of twists a surprise investigator too. Edward marston at his very best and original too. I hope you enjoy it as much as me

[Jill Stirling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good. The trials and tribulations of secondary plot seemed a bit of storm in teacup. A fairly unsatisfactory resolutions to that one.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great story in this series

[Helen Marsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really have to stop reading these. too predictable

[helen P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely to read a book set in Lincoln. The railway detective meets a tricky challenge in this book. Will he or wont he succeed. a good read if you like Marston.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

And the descent of this series into absolute mediocrity continues with this latest offering from Edward Marston. I can only conclude that Marston himself is suffering some form of personal crisis, because the latter books in this series are as far from the originals as chalk from cheese. At least half of the book covered the gratuitous coverage of Colbeck's wife and events at home, but these were mercifully mitigated by the fact that the odious Caleb Andrews was laid up for much of the book. However, we had to contend with the simpering and now apparently witless Lydia Quale. Even the detective sections of these books are becoming ridiculous, with Colbeck making and acting on conclusions plucked from thin air, with absolutely no evidence whatever. All we hear is that he is a wonderful detective, but there appears to be less detection and more of Colbeck's unsupported pronouncements that suddenly become fact simply by dint of his utterance. We would all be wonderful detectives under such circumstances.

The stilted dialog between Madeline Colbeck and her apparent best friend Lydia Quayle is frankly risible. These two speak to each other as though they were two lovers in the early stages of a relationship, with both trying to impress and flatter the other. Colbeck is a sanctimonious, judgemental prig, and Leeming acts more like the village idiot than a Detective Sergeant. There is not one redeeming factor, and I now only read these books for the sake of nostalgia, and in the hope that the old form will be restored. Sadly, not with this book.