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The Railway Detective #16
Points of Danger
Librarian's note: This is an Alternate Cover Edition for ISBN10: 0749023287 ISBN13: 9780749023287.
1861, East Anglia. Alone in a first-class carriage, the Swarbricks are robbed at gunpoint, but when the universally-admired Swarbrick fights back, the train robber takes more than money and jewellery, killing the man working to unify East Anglia's tangle of railway networks. Inspector Colbeck is brought in from London, as the only detective in Britain with enough expertise for the job. But as Swarbrick's glowing reputation begins to crumble, the line of investigation isn't clear: Is this the act of a bungling burglar, a business rival, a disgruntled son, or a jealous lover? Whoever it is, they are determined to involve Colbeck in their fight. Is the Railway Detective following the right track or will he need to switch points to bring the murderer to justice?
1861, East Anglia. Alone in a first-class carriage, the Swarbricks are robbed at gunpoint, but when the universally-admired Swarbrick fights back, the train robber takes more than money and jewellery, killing the man working to unify East Anglia's tangle of railway networks. Inspector Colbeck is brought in from London, as the only detective in Britain with enough expertise for the job. But as Swarbrick's glowing reputation begins to crumble, the line of investigation isn't clear: Is this the act of a bungling burglar, a business rival, a disgruntled son, or a jealous lover? Whoever it is, they are determined to involve Colbeck in their fight. Is the Railway Detective following the right track or will he need to switch points to bring the murderer to justice?
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 18, 2018
65 people are currently reading
263 people want to read
About the author
Edward Marston
239 books466 followersLibrarian 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
September 18, 2020
These stories flow so naturally and are very well written. In this case, Victor Leeming is the one who cracks open the case rather than Robert Colbeck, but that's why the Railway Detective has a sidekick. I like how the author keeps entwining previous incidents into the stories, providing a diversion from the main thrust of the book. The characters are strongly defined and easy to distinguish, all of them have character flaws making them easy to dislike.
June 2, 2020
easy going read in the railway detective series mixed views about the later ones in the series
May 18, 2021
The good thing about the Railway detective series is that the reader is immersed in the plot from the very first page and 'Points of Danger' is no different. There s danger lurking from the very start.
Jarvis Swarbrick, the local Member of Parliament and, more importantly for the story, an influential member of the Eastern Counties Railway Board is robbed and murdered in front of his adoring second wife Grace while travelling in a first-class compartment of one of his trains. The local police at Norwich, unaccustomed to dealing with murders, particularly of such a high profile person, call in Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, from Scotland Yard. So, despite the mild protestations of his boss Superintendent Tallis, who later has troubles of his own, Colbeck and his partner Sergeant Victor Leeming set out to investigate.
They find the railway staff at Norwich a very close knit bunch, reluctant to give out much information with the local railway police somewhat jealous that Scotland Yard had been called in to investigate a crime that they felt they could have handled. Despite all this Colbeck and Leeming begin to gather information from round and about that they hope will enable them to uncover the killer and fortunately the local police inspector, Inspector Jellings, is ever ready to give them a helping hand.
Both Colbeck and Leeming have left their respective wives at home and while they are away, intrigue builds up around the former's wife Madeleine, an artist who specialises in railway paintings. Her father, Caleb Andrews, a former railway employee of the London and North Western Railway, gets himself involved in that mystery and he unfortunately muddies the waters so that Maddy falls out with him. The rift is soon mended but Maddy has to deal with the difficult problem that she has encountered on her own. That is until her friend Lydia and a local police constable, who has a strong liking for Lydia, turn up to give her a helping hand.
As for the murder investigation, it takes the two detectives around the country and even to Jersey but their enquiries there reveal no definite clues and initially seem to have made things more imponderable. Then Jarvis Swarbrick's somewhat estranged son arrives in Norwich, as does Grace Swarbrick's brother, and that's when things get even more interesting. The son is antagonistic to his step-mother and also to many of the local folk, despite the fact that he wants their support so that he can follow in his father's footsteps and go into Parliament. This leads to more petty rivalries and jealousies and, as the locals close ranks again, does not help the investigation at all.
The detectives try to pull it all together but it proves difficult. However, dogged police work on their part eventually brings some rewards and they begin to piece together a sequence of events that look promising. And it proves to be so in the longer term as the whole intrigue is brought to life and an unexpected ending is the result.
As in all the Railway Detective novels, the action is thick and fast and there is intrigue at every turn, all of which makes the series one of the best on the market.
Jarvis Swarbrick, the local Member of Parliament and, more importantly for the story, an influential member of the Eastern Counties Railway Board is robbed and murdered in front of his adoring second wife Grace while travelling in a first-class compartment of one of his trains. The local police at Norwich, unaccustomed to dealing with murders, particularly of such a high profile person, call in Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, from Scotland Yard. So, despite the mild protestations of his boss Superintendent Tallis, who later has troubles of his own, Colbeck and his partner Sergeant Victor Leeming set out to investigate.
They find the railway staff at Norwich a very close knit bunch, reluctant to give out much information with the local railway police somewhat jealous that Scotland Yard had been called in to investigate a crime that they felt they could have handled. Despite all this Colbeck and Leeming begin to gather information from round and about that they hope will enable them to uncover the killer and fortunately the local police inspector, Inspector Jellings, is ever ready to give them a helping hand.
Both Colbeck and Leeming have left their respective wives at home and while they are away, intrigue builds up around the former's wife Madeleine, an artist who specialises in railway paintings. Her father, Caleb Andrews, a former railway employee of the London and North Western Railway, gets himself involved in that mystery and he unfortunately muddies the waters so that Maddy falls out with him. The rift is soon mended but Maddy has to deal with the difficult problem that she has encountered on her own. That is until her friend Lydia and a local police constable, who has a strong liking for Lydia, turn up to give her a helping hand.
As for the murder investigation, it takes the two detectives around the country and even to Jersey but their enquiries there reveal no definite clues and initially seem to have made things more imponderable. Then Jarvis Swarbrick's somewhat estranged son arrives in Norwich, as does Grace Swarbrick's brother, and that's when things get even more interesting. The son is antagonistic to his step-mother and also to many of the local folk, despite the fact that he wants their support so that he can follow in his father's footsteps and go into Parliament. This leads to more petty rivalries and jealousies and, as the locals close ranks again, does not help the investigation at all.
The detectives try to pull it all together but it proves difficult. However, dogged police work on their part eventually brings some rewards and they begin to piece together a sequence of events that look promising. And it proves to be so in the longer term as the whole intrigue is brought to life and an unexpected ending is the result.
As in all the Railway Detective novels, the action is thick and fast and there is intrigue at every turn, all of which makes the series one of the best on the market.
September 22, 2019
One of those books where I could excuse the weak points if the finale impressed. And it... was pretty poor. Very very rushed and the explanation of the crime felt unearned from an emotional, logical and in story detective work standpoint.
The book has 2 subplots running in parallel to the main one and having pretty much no connection - as well as solving the murder, there's the detective's superintendent dealing with what seems to be PTSD and the detective's artist wife getting a commission for a painting. Both kind of fluff out - the latter at least gets a conclusion although it includes a strange sequel hook but the former mostly consists of everyone being worried about him spacing out a lot and it seems the author otherwise doesn't really know how to handle it - . The ending of the art plot is also kind of hilariously weird - so someone wants to commission her and there's some investigation because people feel suspicious for some reason
The writing is... competent. A lot of the characters are pretty empty - having 1 or 2 obvious traits at best - which is frustrating especially when the *main character* is maybe the worst at this! We obviously spend the most time with him yet we never really get a hint of any emotion, any particular desires. He never shows any sign of being the exceptional detective people say he is either. He's just... totally empty. At least we know his sidekick loves beer, if nothing else. The other character who feels pretty empty is the murder victim. Sure, we get some descriptions about how great and powerful he was and yet... it really doesn't add up to much. Especially when . The bland characters really shows up in the dialogue too - I can't say it's *wooden* but there's never any sparkle and only rarely does it really convey emotion above retelling of facts. There's also the occasional tendency to just sprinkle in weird "facts I learned about Norwich and railways from wikipedia" that don't really fit. There's a genuinely laughable part where the detective's father-in-law's main trait is that the only railway he likes is the LNWR and so he gets really mad at the idea of his daughter painting a GWR locomotive for some reason and this fuels a significant amount of sideplot drama! It's just not how any human acts.
The main plot suffers badly from having minimal clues happening for most of the book. You could *guess* at the ending, but there's not really much that hints at it. A lot of it feels padded then you're 20 pages from the end and it suddenly kicks into extremely rushed mode without any time to justify what's happening and without wrapping up the other character plots that it had spent a lot of time on. There's a lot to say about this that I can't do without spoilers so obviously this will spoil the end completely
I kept going through the book and feeling like it was competent enough and I was curious enough to wonder how it would end but it just left a bad taste. Nothing in the book was insultingly bad or anything and it's very readable, hence the 2 stars rather than 1, there's just not much to recommend about it. Just disappointing.
PS as someone who loves trains I felt there were not enough trains in this book. Needs more trains.
The book has 2 subplots running in parallel to the main one and having pretty much no connection - as well as solving the murder, there's the detective's superintendent dealing with what seems to be PTSD and the detective's artist wife getting a commission for a painting. Both kind of fluff out - the latter at least gets a conclusion although it includes a strange sequel hook but the former mostly consists of everyone being worried about him spacing out a lot and it seems the author otherwise doesn't really know how to handle it - . The ending of the art plot is also kind of hilariously weird - so someone wants to commission her and there's some investigation because people feel suspicious for some reason
The writing is... competent. A lot of the characters are pretty empty - having 1 or 2 obvious traits at best - which is frustrating especially when the *main character* is maybe the worst at this! We obviously spend the most time with him yet we never really get a hint of any emotion, any particular desires. He never shows any sign of being the exceptional detective people say he is either. He's just... totally empty. At least we know his sidekick loves beer, if nothing else. The other character who feels pretty empty is the murder victim. Sure, we get some descriptions about how great and powerful he was and yet... it really doesn't add up to much. Especially when . The bland characters really shows up in the dialogue too - I can't say it's *wooden* but there's never any sparkle and only rarely does it really convey emotion above retelling of facts. There's also the occasional tendency to just sprinkle in weird "facts I learned about Norwich and railways from wikipedia" that don't really fit. There's a genuinely laughable part where the detective's father-in-law's main trait is that the only railway he likes is the LNWR and so he gets really mad at the idea of his daughter painting a GWR locomotive for some reason and this fuels a significant amount of sideplot drama! It's just not how any human acts.
The main plot suffers badly from having minimal clues happening for most of the book. You could *guess* at the ending, but there's not really much that hints at it. A lot of it feels padded then you're 20 pages from the end and it suddenly kicks into extremely rushed mode without any time to justify what's happening and without wrapping up the other character plots that it had spent a lot of time on. There's a lot to say about this that I can't do without spoilers so obviously this will spoil the end completely
I kept going through the book and feeling like it was competent enough and I was curious enough to wonder how it would end but it just left a bad taste. Nothing in the book was insultingly bad or anything and it's very readable, hence the 2 stars rather than 1, there's just not much to recommend about it. Just disappointing.
PS as someone who loves trains I felt there were not enough trains in this book. Needs more trains.
December 15, 2021
A good read but a bit thin
As with all his books, the story rattles along (like an Eastern Counties train) and there’s plenty side stories to pad out what is a bit of a thin and somewhat implausible mail plot. Enjoyable nonetheless.
As with all his books, the story rattles along (like an Eastern Counties train) and there’s plenty side stories to pad out what is a bit of a thin and somewhat implausible mail plot. Enjoyable nonetheless.
February 9, 2019
I throughly enjoy Inspector Colbeck... I'm glad that Superintendent Tallis has had his comeuppance and Sergeant Leeming is finally whining less, he was bordering on intolerable.
Superintendent Tallis has quite literally lost his mind after his kidnapping and is sent to the country to heal...
Meanwhile Colbeck & Leeming are investigating the murder of a member of Parliament who was working to unify the incompetency & unreliability of the four Railroad Companies of East Anglia.
At first the murder looks like a robbery gone bad but as the investigation continues and more clues are discovered the murder moves closer to home.
There are several promising suspects and several of them work for the East Central Railway that the victim was working with, including a former London policeman with a shady past.
In London, Colbeck's wife, Madeline, is approached by a brazenly forward Mr Fairbank, who offers her £200 for a painting of a Great Western Railway train. Her father, who worked for London and North Western Railway, loathing all other Railways, interferes in her business dealing... we learn through Madeline's investigations that Mr. Fairbank is a champion of women artists, but his support of them seems dodgy.
The book was interesting and the plot was well mapped out w/ many a twist.
Sergeant Leeming is becoming a better & stronger detective and his skills of reasoning are sharper than before. I still dislike Madeline's father for his closed mindedness and disrespectful interfering actions. As for Superintendent Tallis, it seems as if he may be mellowing in his dealings w/ others, so we can only hope this is actually so.
Superintendent Tallis has quite literally lost his mind after his kidnapping and is sent to the country to heal...
Meanwhile Colbeck & Leeming are investigating the murder of a member of Parliament who was working to unify the incompetency & unreliability of the four Railroad Companies of East Anglia.
At first the murder looks like a robbery gone bad but as the investigation continues and more clues are discovered the murder moves closer to home.
There are several promising suspects and several of them work for the East Central Railway that the victim was working with, including a former London policeman with a shady past.
In London, Colbeck's wife, Madeline, is approached by a brazenly forward Mr Fairbank, who offers her £200 for a painting of a Great Western Railway train. Her father, who worked for London and North Western Railway, loathing all other Railways, interferes in her business dealing... we learn through Madeline's investigations that Mr. Fairbank is a champion of women artists, but his support of them seems dodgy.
The book was interesting and the plot was well mapped out w/ many a twist.
Sergeant Leeming is becoming a better & stronger detective and his skills of reasoning are sharper than before. I still dislike Madeline's father for his closed mindedness and disrespectful interfering actions. As for Superintendent Tallis, it seems as if he may be mellowing in his dealings w/ others, so we can only hope this is actually so.
January 26, 2019
Brilliant again love the characters and pace it just keeps getting better and better.
January 9, 2021
Love these books would highly recommend
November 14, 2022
As per the previous 15 books of the Railway Detective easy read fast paced.This time the Railway Detective is investigating the shooting of a Politician during a tran journey highly recommended, next book 17.
February 12, 2019
Another book in the railway detective series. What i love about the series are the different perspectives from the various characters. I also enjoy the many subplots such as those featuring Mrs Colback, her friend Lydia and Edward Tallis.
This time the detective heads to Norwich after a gruesome murder on a railway carriage. There are many twists and turns and possible motives, with possible outcomes across the sea.
Another great book and I look forward to reading more!
This time the detective heads to Norwich after a gruesome murder on a railway carriage. There are many twists and turns and possible motives, with possible outcomes across the sea.
Another great book and I look forward to reading more!
December 14, 2018
An interesting read.
As usual with Edward Marston,s books you get into the story right from the start. This book is no different. It's a constant page turner. Although the story was gripping I was let down by the extreme quick conclusion. It seemed that the author was on a time limit and had to conclude very quickly. Disappointing.
As usual with Edward Marston,s books you get into the story right from the start. This book is no different. It's a constant page turner. Although the story was gripping I was let down by the extreme quick conclusion. It seemed that the author was on a time limit and had to conclude very quickly. Disappointing.
January 30, 2020
As good as usual. This time set in Norwich the railway was ECR - always running late etc. Not much has changed from then until now !!! Also, I live in Norwich so it was good to see how Marston described the location.
May 5, 2021
A really good follow up to the Christmas Railway Mystery.
Edward Tallis is suffering after his kidnap ordeal in Canterbury. He is forced into a period of sick leave and goes to stay with an old friend form his former regiment. Whilst there, Tallis' mood swings become more startling and a doctor is consulted.
Meanwhile, Colbeck and Leeming are investigating the murder of Jarvis Swarbrick, an MP in East Anglia. He is shot at point blank range in a moving railway carriage. His wife is, quite naturally, traumatised. However, things are not quite what they seem to be. The railway police are one step short of useless, the dead man's son is arrogant and rude. The two detectives stick to their guns and question every suspect, even going as far as Jersey, to discover the truth. The two men reach the same conclusion independently. They make their arrests and can return home to London.
As Colbeck is away working, his wife, Madeline, receives a mysterious commission to paint a GWR train. Her close friend Lydia and a colleague of Colbeck's discover the man is not who he appears to be.
Back in Canterbury, Edward Tallis faces his demons and is back on the road to recovery. All is well in the world of the Railway Detective----till next time!
Edward Tallis is suffering after his kidnap ordeal in Canterbury. He is forced into a period of sick leave and goes to stay with an old friend form his former regiment. Whilst there, Tallis' mood swings become more startling and a doctor is consulted.
Meanwhile, Colbeck and Leeming are investigating the murder of Jarvis Swarbrick, an MP in East Anglia. He is shot at point blank range in a moving railway carriage. His wife is, quite naturally, traumatised. However, things are not quite what they seem to be. The railway police are one step short of useless, the dead man's son is arrogant and rude. The two detectives stick to their guns and question every suspect, even going as far as Jersey, to discover the truth. The two men reach the same conclusion independently. They make their arrests and can return home to London.
As Colbeck is away working, his wife, Madeline, receives a mysterious commission to paint a GWR train. Her close friend Lydia and a colleague of Colbeck's discover the man is not who he appears to be.
Back in Canterbury, Edward Tallis faces his demons and is back on the road to recovery. All is well in the world of the Railway Detective----till next time!
November 2, 2022
1861, East Anglia. Alone in a first-class carriage, the Swarbricks are robbed at gunpoint, but when the universally-admired Swarbrick fights back, the train robber takes more than money and jewellery, killing the man working to unify East Anglia's tangle of railway networks. Inspector Colbeck is brought in from London, as the only detective in Britain with enough expertise for the job. But as Swarbrick's glowing reputation begins to crumble, the line of investigation isn't clear: Is this the act of a bungling burglar, a business rival, a disgruntled son, or a jealous lover? Whoever it is, they are determined to involve Colbeck in their fight. Is the Railway Detective following the right track or will he need to switch points to bring the murderer to justice?
January 18, 2023
Another fab read in the Railway crime detective series.The characters Edward Marston creates are always fascinating and really do take you back to that halcyon era of the days of steam engines.I do sometimes find it hard to warm to the character of Inspector Colbeck ,he just comes across as smug and conceited...he's never wrong and seems just a little too perfect.That doesn't put me off reading and enjoying these novels though as the plots are always such fun and gripping.They remind me of Agatha Christie novels in that they are just so easy to read and so enjoyable.I really can't wait to begin the next one.....!
March 13, 2023
Published in 2018, 'Points of Danger' is another in the popular 'Railway Detective' series of crime novels set in 1860s UK and featuring Inspector Robert Colbeck of Scotland Yard. This tale has three main threads - the murder of a rail company official, the health of Superintendent Tallis following his kidnapping ordeal in a previous book, and the usual pointless story involving Mrs Colbeck and her annoying father. This makes for a fast-paced book, and whilst the mystery element is a bit obvious the accompanying characterisations are marvellous.
January 5, 2025
Having read 17 of the Railway detective series in my opinion this was by far the best. Apart from some action at the beginning , the story mainly followed the investigation. However, it also had a few other interesting storylines that cropped up on a regular bases throughout which enhanced my opinion of this book . It was a riveting historical police procedural that I had difficulty in putting down. An excellent read.
March 3, 2023
I have enjoyed all of Mr Marston's books but this series is my favorite. I will be looking forward to the next book. It is good to read a mystery and not be totally sure who the killer is by the middle of the book.
May 9, 2021
Carrying on this wonderfull series
Detectives working well together but with different views of rail travel - looking forward to the next with some relish
Detectives working well together but with different views of rail travel - looking forward to the next with some relish
September 1, 2021
Maybe I've grown out of this type of who-dun-it. I found it laboured and barely creditable.
December 4, 2021
A very intriguing mystery! And what an ending!
December 26, 2021
Another great book in this series
May 10, 2022
always entertaining, well crafted plots, historically accurate.
September 10, 2022
The ending was really clever but the pacing of this novel was a bit slow and I didn't enjoy the first half very much.
July 4, 2023
Having not read one of these for a while, this one reminded me why I gave up. Irritating, gushing writing style and intensely annoying characters. I won't be going back to this series again.
July 19, 2023
Easy read but a bit naff.
August 14, 2023
Good story line. Couldn't guess the outcome until the end. A very plausible improvement to sergeant Leeming's character.
August 23, 2023
Not worth it
May 21, 2024
#16 in the railway series and yet another atmospheric engaging easy read.
EM has the uncanny ability to transport the reader directly to the station !!!
EM has the uncanny ability to transport the reader directly to the station !!!
September 5, 2024
A multi-faceted novel. In addition to a complex murder with a number of false leads, there are two additional threads involving family and colleagues. An intriguing and interesting novel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews