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The Railway Detective

The Railway Detective, Book 1

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The Railway Detective

By: Edward Marston
Narrated by: Peter Walters
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About this listen

The thrilling first case for the railway detective.

London, 1851. With the opening of the Great Exhibition at hand, interest in mounting in the engineering triumphs of the railways, but not everyone feels like celebrating....

In an audacious attack, the London to Birmingham mail train is robbed and derailed, causing many casualties. Planned with military precision, this crime proves a challenge to Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck, who fights to untangle a web of murder, blackmail and destruction.

As Colbeck closes in on the criminal masterminds, events take an unexpected turn when the beautiful Madeleine, daughter of the injured train driver, becomes a pawn in the criminals' game. With time running out, good and evil, new and old, battle against each other. But will the long arm of the law have speed on its side?

Full of historical detail, The Railway Detective is an action-packed dip into murky 1850s London.

©2009 Edward Marston (P)2021 Allison & Busby Ltd
Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Police Procedural Traditional Detectives Transportation Railroad England Exciting
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What listeners say about The Railway Detective

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Story Mediocre ... Narration Awful

1. I did enjoy the story, though there were no surprises. It was obvious from the get go what would happen. Some plot mistakes and you'll need to not mind all the locomotive details.
2. My main problem was the narrator. All of the female characters were voiced alike, making them all sound common and stupid. This annoyed me and because of this I will not be spending any further credits on these inferior and badly narrated crime novels.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining enough to make me want to finish

I love historical fiction and the sense of period and this book was quite good on changes in mid-Victorian England. It also had a plot that was entertaining. However, I didn't find the narration very convincing and at times irritating. The characterisation was poor and at times, distractingly so. I might look at another book in the series but not if it has the same narrator. I'm sure the narrator is a talented actor, I think he's wrongly chosen for this book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great storyline

I wish I was around during the wonderful world of steam trains. The story is great, and the characters are believable, and all have a place. I will definitely read more from this author.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A predictable story

I struggled with this story as it's so predictable. It plodding pace is as if a slow train is just rumbling along for the sake of it. The narrator has a talent to present the storyline in many different voices, however his storytelling I found less than engaging.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Well crafted detective story

This was well crafted detective story set in the Victorian era, and for once it was a story without a twist ending. Thank you.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A plodding along story

A vanilla crime story without much merit. I recommend listening at 1.2x speed in order to give the delivery a little pace.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

‘Ok’

Immediately disliked the narration intensely and had to up the speed! As others have said, the story was pretty predictable and some of it felt quite lazily written.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great detective story

I really enjoy Edward Marston's other works and thought I would try an earlier story. I was not disappointed. A great detective story set in 1851, starting with a train robbery following the early Metropolitan police detective division in the investigation. The characters are well written with both a great detective and an excellent adversary. There are a few cliches with an officious superior, the dependable sergeant and plucky love interest but it works. Great stuff. Peter Walters does a good job with the narration.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good storyline, pity about writing style

The storyline was very good, but the writing and narration gave the impression that this was written for 10 year olds.
It felt as if the narrated was talking down to the listener, not sure if that was down to the narrator or writing style, but it came across as a bit condescending.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great read


A great read this was my first book from the railway detective series. Tom and I have the need for series.

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