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The Case of the 'Hail Mary' Celeste
'It was Tuesday the second of December 1947 when Jenny the Spiddler walked into my office: almost a month before they nationalised my mother.'
Jack Wenlock is the last of the Railway Goslings: that fabled cadre of railway detectives created at the Weeping Cross Railway Servants' Orphanage, who trod the corridors of the GWR trains in the years 1925 to 1947. Sworn to uphold the name of God's Wonderful Railway and all that the good men of England fought for in two world wars, Jack keeps the trains free of fare dodgers and purse-stealers, bounders and confidence tricksters, German spies and ladies of the night.
But now, as the clock ticks down towards the nationalisation of the railways Jack finds himself investigating a case that begins with an abducted great aunt, but soon develops into something far darker and more dangerous. It reaches up to the corridors of power and into the labyrinth of the greatest mystery in all the annals of railway lore – the disappearance in 1915 of twenty-three nuns from the 7.25 Swindon to Bristol Temple Meads, or the case of the 'Hail Mary' Celeste.
Shady government agents, drunken riverboat captains, a bandaged bookseller, a missing manuscript, a melancholic gorilla and a 4070 Godstow Castle engine – the one with a sloping throatplate in the firebox and the characteristic double cough in the chuffs – all collide on a journey that will take your breath away. - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/the-case-of-...
Jack Wenlock is the last of the Railway Goslings: that fabled cadre of railway detectives created at the Weeping Cross Railway Servants' Orphanage, who trod the corridors of the GWR trains in the years 1925 to 1947. Sworn to uphold the name of God's Wonderful Railway and all that the good men of England fought for in two world wars, Jack keeps the trains free of fare dodgers and purse-stealers, bounders and confidence tricksters, German spies and ladies of the night.
But now, as the clock ticks down towards the nationalisation of the railways Jack finds himself investigating a case that begins with an abducted great aunt, but soon develops into something far darker and more dangerous. It reaches up to the corridors of power and into the labyrinth of the greatest mystery in all the annals of railway lore – the disappearance in 1915 of twenty-three nuns from the 7.25 Swindon to Bristol Temple Meads, or the case of the 'Hail Mary' Celeste.
Shady government agents, drunken riverboat captains, a bandaged bookseller, a missing manuscript, a melancholic gorilla and a 4070 Godstow Castle engine – the one with a sloping throatplate in the firebox and the characteristic double cough in the chuffs – all collide on a journey that will take your breath away. - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/the-case-of-...
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2012
11 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Malcolm Pryce
16 books129 followersMalcolm Pryce is a British author, mostly known for his noir detective novels.
Born in Shrewsbury, England, Pryce moved at the age of nine to Aberystwyth, where he later attended Penglais Comprehensive School before leaving to do some travelling. After working in a variety of jobs. including BMW assembly-line worker in Germany, hotel washer-up, "the world's worst aluminium salesman", and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Pryce became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He is currently resident in Oxford.
Pryce writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, but his novels are incongruously set on the rainswept streets of an alternate universe version of the Welsh seaside resort and university town of Aberystwyth. The hero of the novels is Louie Knight, the best private detective in Aberystwyth (also the only private detective in Aberystwyth), who battles crime organised by the local Druids, investigates the strange case of the town's disappearing youths, and gets involved in its burgeoning film industry, which produces What The Butler Saw movies.
Born in Shrewsbury, England, Pryce moved at the age of nine to Aberystwyth, where he later attended Penglais Comprehensive School before leaving to do some travelling. After working in a variety of jobs. including BMW assembly-line worker in Germany, hotel washer-up, "the world's worst aluminium salesman", and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Pryce became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He is currently resident in Oxford.
Pryce writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, but his novels are incongruously set on the rainswept streets of an alternate universe version of the Welsh seaside resort and university town of Aberystwyth. The hero of the novels is Louie Knight, the best private detective in Aberystwyth (also the only private detective in Aberystwyth), who battles crime organised by the local Druids, investigates the strange case of the town's disappearing youths, and gets involved in its burgeoning film industry, which produces What The Butler Saw movies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
February 23, 2015
This entertaining novel is set in December, 1947, shortly before the nationalisation of the railways and the formation of the British Transport Commission, detailed to organise the closure of the least-used branch lines. Railways are of great importance in this mystery, as the main character is Jack Wenlock, a Gosling Class special railways detective. Raised in the Weeping Cross Railway Servant’s Orphanage, Jack was one of twelve Goslings and is the last left. He fears he will shortly lose his job, but is still employed when we first meet him. The Goslings are so called because of a theory that they would be born imprinted on trains and Jack does view the Great Western Railway as the only family he has ever known.
Jack is courtly and old-fashioned, slightly naïve and liable to see the best in people, but more than able to take care of himself in a fight. The book begins with the arrival at his office of a young mill worker called Jenny. She has a strange tale to tell of her Aunt Agatha witnessing a woman being throttled in the adjacent carriage of a passing train and, after reporting the case to the police, being taken away to a lunatic asylum.
It is very difficult to review this novel without giving away the plot and I have no wish to spoil this delightful read for you. Events spiral and involve the greatest railway mystery of all time; when, in 1915, twenty three nuns vanished on a train – the so called, ‘Hail Mary’ Celeste. All the Goslings have attempted to solve this mystery and claim the prize money of £5000. Jack and Jenny join forces to investigate both this and the mystery of Aunt Agatha, and find themselves involved with gangsters, mysterious missing letters, German U-boats, a train load of missing nuns and royalty – as well as much more. Along the way there are wonderful snippets from the missing 1931 volume of the Gosling Annual, edited by Gosling Cadbury Holt who vanished in Africa.
Although this is set in the late 1940’s, I would suggest that if you enjoy Golden Age Crime fiction, this will probably appeal to you. The characters are mostly larger than life and Jack Wenlock is very much a character who has a strong code of honour and chivalry and would fit comfortably in any crime novel from that period. Jenny is a wonderful foil to him and brings a great deal of humour to the storyline. I really hope that both Jack and Jenny appear in further adventures, as this could be the start of a really good series. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
Jack is courtly and old-fashioned, slightly naïve and liable to see the best in people, but more than able to take care of himself in a fight. The book begins with the arrival at his office of a young mill worker called Jenny. She has a strange tale to tell of her Aunt Agatha witnessing a woman being throttled in the adjacent carriage of a passing train and, after reporting the case to the police, being taken away to a lunatic asylum.
It is very difficult to review this novel without giving away the plot and I have no wish to spoil this delightful read for you. Events spiral and involve the greatest railway mystery of all time; when, in 1915, twenty three nuns vanished on a train – the so called, ‘Hail Mary’ Celeste. All the Goslings have attempted to solve this mystery and claim the prize money of £5000. Jack and Jenny join forces to investigate both this and the mystery of Aunt Agatha, and find themselves involved with gangsters, mysterious missing letters, German U-boats, a train load of missing nuns and royalty – as well as much more. Along the way there are wonderful snippets from the missing 1931 volume of the Gosling Annual, edited by Gosling Cadbury Holt who vanished in Africa.
Although this is set in the late 1940’s, I would suggest that if you enjoy Golden Age Crime fiction, this will probably appeal to you. The characters are mostly larger than life and Jack Wenlock is very much a character who has a strong code of honour and chivalry and would fit comfortably in any crime novel from that period. Jenny is a wonderful foil to him and brings a great deal of humour to the storyline. I really hope that both Jack and Jenny appear in further adventures, as this could be the start of a really good series. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
March 11, 2016
Jack Wenlock is a Railway Gosling. Imprinted at birth with the image of a railway locomotive as their mothers a young group of detectives are nurtured during the era of the great wars. Years later with all his Gosling compatriots either missing, mad, dead or, worst of all, in possession of a blotted copybook Jack is all that is left of the experimental group. He's counting out the days that remain of his entire world; the Great Western Railway, which is soon to be privatised. His last case begins as a young woman with a Veronica Lake hairstyle walks into his office.
Malcolm Pryce distils a sometimes dream-like surreal England from a multitude of influences spanning the gamut of popular culture and the mythical golden haze of nostalgia. It's awash with imagery, language and attitude drawn from the Boys Own magazines, Pathe film reels, radio adventure serials like Dick Barton, Whitechurch's vegetarian railway detective, Thorpe Hazell, a wash of films often with railway settings; Brief Encounter, The Lady Vanishes, King Kong and adaptations of Agatha Christie like the 4.50 from Paddington.
Jack Wenlock is an engaging mix of almost child-like naivety and steely resolve. He looks at the world through that Boys Own filter of fair play, Englishness and manliness, good chaps giving bounders a bloody nose, venerating his beloved railway the GWR with such love and devotion that getting him talking about it in public risks a 'When Harry Met Sally' moment of embarrassing decibels. Oh and he carries a lump of Formica in his jacket pocket - oh the wonders of modern technology.
Chapters are preceded by extracts from Vol. 7 of the Railway Goslings Annual 1931 featuring Railway Gosling Cadbury Holt in search of the missing nuns plus the answers to reader's questions.
Pryce writes well, delighting in the language and the skewed view of the world presented by Jack in an era full of propaganda and exaggerated recollection. The book is fun, funny, sad, poignant, nostalgic and romantic. Noir with knobs on.
Malcolm Pryce distils a sometimes dream-like surreal England from a multitude of influences spanning the gamut of popular culture and the mythical golden haze of nostalgia. It's awash with imagery, language and attitude drawn from the Boys Own magazines, Pathe film reels, radio adventure serials like Dick Barton, Whitechurch's vegetarian railway detective, Thorpe Hazell, a wash of films often with railway settings; Brief Encounter, The Lady Vanishes, King Kong and adaptations of Agatha Christie like the 4.50 from Paddington.
Jack Wenlock is an engaging mix of almost child-like naivety and steely resolve. He looks at the world through that Boys Own filter of fair play, Englishness and manliness, good chaps giving bounders a bloody nose, venerating his beloved railway the GWR with such love and devotion that getting him talking about it in public risks a 'When Harry Met Sally' moment of embarrassing decibels. Oh and he carries a lump of Formica in his jacket pocket - oh the wonders of modern technology.
Chapters are preceded by extracts from Vol. 7 of the Railway Goslings Annual 1931 featuring Railway Gosling Cadbury Holt in search of the missing nuns plus the answers to reader's questions.
Pryce writes well, delighting in the language and the skewed view of the world presented by Jack in an era full of propaganda and exaggerated recollection. The book is fun, funny, sad, poignant, nostalgic and romantic. Noir with knobs on.
December 30, 2016
Malcolm Pryce is rightly known for his wonderful novels setting a Sam Spade-like, world-weary detective in the hell-hole of crime that is Aberystwyth, with druids as gangsters and good time girls in Welsh national costume. In these books, Pryce creates a fantasy world that is totally bonkers, and yet works remarkably well. His new creation, the railway detective Jack Wenlock might seem at first glance to be more of the same - and the book does have some of the same kind of absurdity with, for example, a group of nuns who go mysteriously go missing from a train and rampage across Africa - but 'Hail Mary' Celeste is several degrees closer to reality than the Aberystwyth books, and both benefits and loses from this.
The plus side is Pryce's affection for the Great Western Railway. His lead character might be odd in the extreme, but it's hard not share some of Wenlock's love for the old-fashioned ideals of the railway (admittedly without being given a mother fixation on a locomotive). Pryce captures the emotional intensity that the railways have held for some, even giving a bit part to a young Doctor Beeching, already a hater of the railways, and culminating with an appendix to the book that lists over 2,000 stations that Beeching recommended closing in his report - this has the same kind of nostalgic heart-pull as that Flanders and Swann song that lists some of the evocative station names that were closed.
There's also more character development here than in the Aberystwyth books, where most of the players are set in aspic. This is a story of lost innocence - Wenlock begins by believing that the state and the powers that be are caring benefactors, but comes to realise that they ruthlessly take an 'end justifies the means' approach. At the same time he goes from being a child emotionally to understanding love for the first time. I also truly delighted in some of the details in the interspersed excerpts from the '1931 Gosling Annual', particular the 'Answers to readers' letters', where we never see what was written, but from the answers it seems the readers mostly wanted to create mayhem and murder.
In some ways, then, this is a book with a closer attachment to reality than Pryce's earlier novels (the Goslings might not have existed, but a lot of the GWR detail is real) and with stronger character work. And I did very much enjoy it - but for me it lacked the edge of the Aberystwyth books which create a parallel universe that is whole and works on its own merits. In this book the grotesque is half and half with reality, and somehow that made it a little less satisfying. Nonetheless, Pryce has demonstrated once again his mastery of seeing the world differently - and if there are more Jack Wenlock books to come, I look forward to reading them.
The plus side is Pryce's affection for the Great Western Railway. His lead character might be odd in the extreme, but it's hard not share some of Wenlock's love for the old-fashioned ideals of the railway (admittedly without being given a mother fixation on a locomotive). Pryce captures the emotional intensity that the railways have held for some, even giving a bit part to a young Doctor Beeching, already a hater of the railways, and culminating with an appendix to the book that lists over 2,000 stations that Beeching recommended closing in his report - this has the same kind of nostalgic heart-pull as that Flanders and Swann song that lists some of the evocative station names that were closed.
There's also more character development here than in the Aberystwyth books, where most of the players are set in aspic. This is a story of lost innocence - Wenlock begins by believing that the state and the powers that be are caring benefactors, but comes to realise that they ruthlessly take an 'end justifies the means' approach. At the same time he goes from being a child emotionally to understanding love for the first time. I also truly delighted in some of the details in the interspersed excerpts from the '1931 Gosling Annual', particular the 'Answers to readers' letters', where we never see what was written, but from the answers it seems the readers mostly wanted to create mayhem and murder.
In some ways, then, this is a book with a closer attachment to reality than Pryce's earlier novels (the Goslings might not have existed, but a lot of the GWR detail is real) and with stronger character work. And I did very much enjoy it - but for me it lacked the edge of the Aberystwyth books which create a parallel universe that is whole and works on its own merits. In this book the grotesque is half and half with reality, and somehow that made it a little less satisfying. Nonetheless, Pryce has demonstrated once again his mastery of seeing the world differently - and if there are more Jack Wenlock books to come, I look forward to reading them.
February 23, 2017
I greatly enjoyed the Aberystwyth Noir series of books. Although there was a certain amount of plot recycling, the core idea was very funny and very well executed. The first person Private Eye narrator, straight out of Chandler and Hammett, transferred to a small Welsh town, like LA, on the west coast. Instead of ending up in dirty movies, young women found themselves modelling in costume for the fudge industry; the people with their ear to the ground were not on street corners or in bars but running the ice cream stand or the donkey rides. A great parody, done with love, and retaining the intricate plotting of the originals.
Malcolm Pryce has then turned to this, a novel about a Railway Detective, literally brought up by Great Western Railways. I don't get it. I suspect that somewhere there is the idea of those stiff upper lip stories of Bulldog Drummond and the derring do of Boys Own yarns. Generally those stories were not told in the first person, burn in a clipped style that is ripe for parody. Instead, we are told everything through the voice of someone who seems has no concept of the world outside of his train station. Whilst that might have worked in a novel set in 1919, it just doesn't work in the post WWII world.
There is no style in the writing to entertain, no wit to smile at. The only jokes are in the spoof letters which preface each chapter, straight from a Boys Own annual, and you could see what the book might have been if the author had gone all out for such a parody set in 1920s Britain.
Humourless and dull in the main. If there is avolume 2, I will avoid it.
Malcolm Pryce has then turned to this, a novel about a Railway Detective, literally brought up by Great Western Railways. I don't get it. I suspect that somewhere there is the idea of those stiff upper lip stories of Bulldog Drummond and the derring do of Boys Own yarns. Generally those stories were not told in the first person, burn in a clipped style that is ripe for parody. Instead, we are told everything through the voice of someone who seems has no concept of the world outside of his train station. Whilst that might have worked in a novel set in 1919, it just doesn't work in the post WWII world.
There is no style in the writing to entertain, no wit to smile at. The only jokes are in the spoof letters which preface each chapter, straight from a Boys Own annual, and you could see what the book might have been if the author had gone all out for such a parody set in 1920s Britain.
Humourless and dull in the main. If there is avolume 2, I will avoid it.
May 8, 2015
this book was given to me by netgalley for a honest review..
Malcolm pryce returns with his jack wenlock series which doesn't disappoint after his Aberystwyth noir series and his noir has returned with this a gosling detective on the GWR just before privatisation in 1947 in search of the missing nuns in 1915 one of the major unsolved cases. his humour comes out as we travel between the story in England and the missing journal and the book keeps the reader interested to the end.
Malcolm pryce returns with his jack wenlock series which doesn't disappoint after his Aberystwyth noir series and his noir has returned with this a gosling detective on the GWR just before privatisation in 1947 in search of the missing nuns in 1915 one of the major unsolved cases. his humour comes out as we travel between the story in England and the missing journal and the book keeps the reader interested to the end.
dnf
October 15, 2016This one has ended up on my DNF shelf. I just couldn't get into the characters and I kept feeling like the book was a joke I didn't get. I got to the point where I didn't really care about the missing nuns anymore and decided it was time to call it quits.
May 23, 2019
Actually won this is a raffle. However, the blurb offered so much but in the end it was less than the sum of its parts and to be honest a bit tedious. Sometimes less is more.
July 9, 2017
I loved the Aberystwyth books, but feel that this one tries a bit too hard and does not work so well.
February 24, 2022
“If you love her, Jack, take my advice, don’t talk to her about trains all the time.”
I enjoy re-reading Pryce’s Aberystwyth Noir novels: Aberystwyth Mon Amour, etc., so to discover this was a treat. It is set in 1947 at the point when the Great Western Railway and all the others are about to be nationalised. The protagonist is Jack Wenlock, one of the orphan boys who have been imprinted with locomotives as their mothers instead of their real ones. They’re the Gosling class special detectives and work for the railway. Jack is investigating the disappearance, in 1915, of 23 nuns. A girl Jenny appears with a story of the theft of a letter from the nuns to the King. The story complicates, with the interference of the men of Room 42 and Lord Aspley.
There is jeopardy and strange events and people. An amusing and interesting book. If you enjoyed the Aberystwyth novels you’ll like this—and vice versa.
I enjoy re-reading Pryce’s Aberystwyth Noir novels: Aberystwyth Mon Amour, etc., so to discover this was a treat. It is set in 1947 at the point when the Great Western Railway and all the others are about to be nationalised. The protagonist is Jack Wenlock, one of the orphan boys who have been imprinted with locomotives as their mothers instead of their real ones. They’re the Gosling class special detectives and work for the railway. Jack is investigating the disappearance, in 1915, of 23 nuns. A girl Jenny appears with a story of the theft of a letter from the nuns to the King. The story complicates, with the interference of the men of Room 42 and Lord Aspley.
There is jeopardy and strange events and people. An amusing and interesting book. If you enjoyed the Aberystwyth novels you’ll like this—and vice versa.
May 10, 2015
Another detective tale from Malcolm Pryce. No, this one isn't about the not-so-hard-boiled private eye Louie Knight from the "Aberystwyth" series, but a railway detective called Jack Wenlock. Don't worry though, the universe that Jack inhabits is just as weird & wonderful as that populated by Louie Knight and his clients. Jack is one of a select group of railway detectives created at the Weeping Cross Railway Servants' Orphanage and sworn to protect and serve the Great Western Railway (aka God's Wonderful Railway) from the 1920's right up to the eve of the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1947. A young woman called Jenny enters Jack's office and he is swept up in the aftermath of an extraordinary missing persons case with its roots stretching back to 1915 when 23 nuns disappeared from the 7.25 Swindon to Bristol Temple Meads train - the case of the 'Hail Mary' Celeste! In the course of his investigations, Jack will be threatened by both thuggish and oily-smooth British Government agents and follow the fantastical tale of a drunken sea captain's African adventures as he tries to discover the true reason for the nuns' strange disappearance and the missing manuscript of a railways annual which was never published. He also falls in love. Another great addition to Malcolm Pryce's eccentric stories, which are a delight to read.
August 14, 2021
I really enjoy Malcolm Pryce’s fantastical world-making – his Aberystwyth laden with gum shoes and femmes fatale, with the always ever-so-sightly Cro Magnon-ish games masters and genius youthful crime figures and detectives – so was excited to see a new series in the making. Trains and crime seem to go so well together – as Hitchcock showed us. Alas, the potential blending of the absurd, the fantastical and some recurrent motifs of the criminal-in-transport just doesn’t come together here. I suspect this failing is because the central character, Jack Wenlock, railway detective, just didn’t grab me – he seemed too much like Louie Knight (of Aberystwyth fame) with not enough of the self-deprecating gum shoe.
What’s even more frustrating is that I can’t quite pin down why this didn’t work for me: the story line is inventive, the red herrings delightfully red, and herrings, and the foe well conceived (if not so well executed). Perhaps it is the overwhelming sense of nostalgia that pervades the book. What’s most frustrating though is that it has all the components it needs to work…. perhaps I was having a bad week for silly satire.
What’s even more frustrating is that I can’t quite pin down why this didn’t work for me: the story line is inventive, the red herrings delightfully red, and herrings, and the foe well conceived (if not so well executed). Perhaps it is the overwhelming sense of nostalgia that pervades the book. What’s most frustrating though is that it has all the components it needs to work…. perhaps I was having a bad week for silly satire.
July 27, 2017
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I hoped for humour and silliness. What I got was satire of a sort on the privatisation of the British transport industry (along with everything else) and "surreal" fiction (ie makes not a lot of sense). Think H. Ryder Haggard meets Hannay, with a touch of the Robert Rankins. That sounds hysterical; unfortunately it was as flat as yesterday's soda. I was amused at first, but the hero isn't credible even within the parameters of...whatever this is...and the story bogged down in the middle with the obligatory tale of vice in an orphanage and elsewhere, and by the end I was just slogging through. Even the "tell not show" ending doesn't really clear much up, and the listing of closed railway lines was just page-filler. I got the feeling he was more than a little inspired by the 2008 BBC documentary on the Beecham Report, "Ian Hislop Goes Off the Rails."
Another star-and-a-half read.
I think I'll go back to my Golden Age mysteries, thank you.
Another star-and-a-half read.
I think I'll go back to my Golden Age mysteries, thank you.
January 3, 2017
Afraid I just didn't get the book at all. I found it extremely slow going, with nothing much happening for most of the time. Those bits that did happen were never too clear - perhaps the style or some of the concepts are simply wasted on me.
February 10, 2017
I don't get it! It's slow, confusing and feels like it's trying to be funny but I'm not in on the joke. Am just about half way through and every time I pick it up it feels like a chore. I don't think I'll get to the end.
November 18, 2018
I loved Malcolm Pryce's 'Aberystwyth' series but found this book too self-aware and precious for its own good. The essential idea is a clever one but the narrative becomes turgid very quickly and I struggled to finish.
May 17, 2019
At first I thought, “what a weirdly written book.” But as I got further in I realized that what’s weird is the protagonist, and the author writes consistently in his voice. Once I figured that out I enjoyed the book quite a bit. Very intricate and somewhat suspenseful.
September 13, 2015
Pryce is always a quick, delightful read. Lots of fun, looking forward to the next one.
March 9, 2020
I expected to like this book as it was described as being similar to 1930s style crime novels. I usually enjoy old crime novels generally, particularly some of those reprinted by the British Library in recent years. However, this modern tale set in the 1940s is a bit tedious with long pages of speech (more like monologues), lots of facts and history around the trains and lines themselves. I really do love steam trains and feel the character and romance their stories normally evoke but this one misses the mark. The interaction between Dr Beeching and Jack Wenlock felt contrived and seemed designed to only portray Beeching in a very negative light. On a positive note, the style is light and reads easily. However it is not one I’m likely to ever read again.
June 11, 2020
This was a wide ride. If you like reading a book that is part mystery, part historical fiction, part strange-tale of fantasy - then this is the book for you. I enjoyed reading it, especially because it was a wonderful picture of England after WWII and before the period of great change that came in the 1950's in postwar Europe. The fantastical story about the plight about the missing nuns and the journey the Gosling tasked with finding them went through was a fun glimmer of light within a book plot that could have settled for becoming too stereotypical. I enjoyed getting to know all the characters and following along with the unlikely romance between Jack and Jenny. And, in the end, I am very intrigued to read more of Malcolm Pryce's works. Great summer read.
March 21, 2020
After the Aberystwyth noir novels...6 real page-turners full of invention & wit...who would have thought Malcolm Pryce could come-up with another 'take' on crime & humour?!
This first outing for Jack Wenlock, a Railway Gosling!, is an entertaining adventure, full of historical interest - set in 1947 mostly - & brimming with clever humour around the Great Western Railway & boys' comic-strip situations with a variety of bizarre villains & heroes.
I am already looking forward to buying another ticket to ride with the very decent private investigator with a justifiable obsession with the railways of Britain just before the evil Dr Beeching unleashed his worst!
This first outing for Jack Wenlock, a Railway Gosling!, is an entertaining adventure, full of historical interest - set in 1947 mostly - & brimming with clever humour around the Great Western Railway & boys' comic-strip situations with a variety of bizarre villains & heroes.
I am already looking forward to buying another ticket to ride with the very decent private investigator with a justifiable obsession with the railways of Britain just before the evil Dr Beeching unleashed his worst!
April 10, 2019
I was given this book and have to say that it’s not the kinda thing I usually read. I actually really enjoyed its quirky style though. It’s written in a style that suits the 1940s decade that it’s set in. So very twee and ‘oh how ghastly’ kind of phrases. This actually lends it to quite a few chuckles and it’s almost unbearably sweet in its content.
Although I enjoyed its comic innocence and was at first involved in the story the ending didn’t leave me feeling fulfilled. It’s quaint basically but isn’t going to set the world ablaze.
Although I enjoyed its comic innocence and was at first involved in the story the ending didn’t leave me feeling fulfilled. It’s quaint basically but isn’t going to set the world ablaze.
July 1, 2017
This novel lives on its atmosphere of fuming, hissing and chuffing locomotives and memories from the England of the first half of the 20th century rather than on the story. Actually it could be said that apart from the last few chapters there doesn't happen a whole lot.
After being asked by Jenny, a young and, for that time, quite perky woman, to help her with a strange situation her aunt got into, Jack Wenlock the railway detective of the Great Western Railway company is drawn into an old mystery of a group of nuns who disappeared during the First World War. While Jack and Jenny try to tie up the loose ends a lot of dodgy characters cross their path and it becomes difficult for them to distinguish friend and foe.
While in general I liked Malcolm Pryce's writing style because it really takes you to the place and time of the story, there were some flaws in it. Jack's simpleheartedness for example was a little too much for a quite intelligent adult. And, as mentioned, the story went very slowly through the largest part of the book just to be resolved in a kind of a rush towards the end. The full story had to be told in the last chapter by someone else. It would have been preferred that Jack and Jenny actually had found out the details themselves.
In the end it was a nice but not overwhelming read. But what really was hilarious, were the excerpts from the Boy's Own Railway Gosling Annual.
After being asked by Jenny, a young and, for that time, quite perky woman, to help her with a strange situation her aunt got into, Jack Wenlock the railway detective of the Great Western Railway company is drawn into an old mystery of a group of nuns who disappeared during the First World War. While Jack and Jenny try to tie up the loose ends a lot of dodgy characters cross their path and it becomes difficult for them to distinguish friend and foe.
While in general I liked Malcolm Pryce's writing style because it really takes you to the place and time of the story, there were some flaws in it. Jack's simpleheartedness for example was a little too much for a quite intelligent adult. And, as mentioned, the story went very slowly through the largest part of the book just to be resolved in a kind of a rush towards the end. The full story had to be told in the last chapter by someone else. It would have been preferred that Jack and Jenny actually had found out the details themselves.
In the end it was a nice but not overwhelming read. But what really was hilarious, were the excerpts from the Boy's Own Railway Gosling Annual.
September 28, 2020
The word that sums up this book for me is 'romp'! Whilst ostensibly a railway mystery from the ominous year 1947 signalling the end of The Great Western Railway, I found this book difficult to classify. I enjoyed it as it involved steam railways and a good mystery, yet was bemused by some of the other strands in the plot, which I concede, had a I managed to to integrate them better as a reader, this could quite easily have had 5 stars. I finished it, I enjoyed it, it confused me.
April 3, 2020
Trains, Nuns and Subterfuge
I loved the Louie Knight (Aberystwyth) series, for their crazy, yet somehow believable stories and Jack Wenlock is another cracking detective character. Once again, Malcolm Pryce mixes unbelievable truth and believable function, in a book full of intrigue and interest. A thoroughly absorbing read.
I loved the Louie Knight (Aberystwyth) series, for their crazy, yet somehow believable stories and Jack Wenlock is another cracking detective character. Once again, Malcolm Pryce mixes unbelievable truth and believable function, in a book full of intrigue and interest. A thoroughly absorbing read.
October 13, 2025
Paeon to the Days of Steam Railways (Mines and Shipyards)
Parallel history, "Ripping Yarns" style, noir crime thriller parody, The 39 Steps from the opposite perspective. Quite dark at times, particularly in the (profoundly moving) narrative asides almost mirroring real life events. Leaves the reader with a sense of impotent anger and class consciousness.
Parallel history, "Ripping Yarns" style, noir crime thriller parody, The 39 Steps from the opposite perspective. Quite dark at times, particularly in the (profoundly moving) narrative asides almost mirroring real life events. Leaves the reader with a sense of impotent anger and class consciousness.
September 9, 2017
I enjoyed this book. It's humour is similar to the Aberystwyth books which are much better in my opinion and were 4 or 5 stars for me.
May 3, 2020
Highly entertaining for that cross section of the population who loves railways, detective noir, and British history.
May 12, 2020
Wonderfully weird
September 29, 2021
Bit too long
Bit too long for the underlying idea to make it fly. Stodgy in parts. Six or seven more words required.
Bit too long for the underlying idea to make it fly. Stodgy in parts. Six or seven more words required.
March 22, 2023
Found this quite dense and hard going compared to his Aberystwyth series.
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