A Ticket to Oblivion

This is the eleventh book in the Railway Detective series set in the 1850s. Imogen Burnhope, daughter of an MP, sets out on a train journey with her maid, to visit her aunt Paulina and favourite cousin Emma in Oxford - but they never arrive. Colbeck and his colleagues have to consider a number of theories, but it eventually emerges that they were induced to wear disguises when getting off the train and have been kidnapped by blackmailers. I thought Imogen's naivety perhaps a little hard to swallow, even allowing for her very sheltered upbringing, and her desire to escape her overbearing mother. The plot was gripping though and I thought as a page turner this was one of the most enjoyable in the series. As ever though, there was the show more slightly annoying and endless repetition of the main characters'1 idiosyncrasies - must we be constantly reminded that Leeming hates train travel and misses his family, and that Tallis is overbearing and exercises suffocating control of Colbeck and Leeming's activities? That said, there were some engaging minor characters, especially Emma's family and overall I really enjoyed this one. show less

From Amazon:

Summer, 1858. Young Imogen Burnhope and her maid Rhoda board a non-stop train to Oxford to visit Imogen’s Aunt Cassandra, who waits on the platform at the terminus to greet them. All the passengers alight at Oxford, but the two women are nowhere to be seen. The train is searched and the coachman swears he saw them join first class, however they seem to have vanished into thin air. When he learns his daughter is missing, Sir Marcus Burnhope contacts Scotland Yard for help and Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are assigned to the case and are advised to tread carefully around Sir Marcus - an MP who is used to getting what he wants.
With witnesses confirming the impossible = that the women boarded the train - is it a show more simple case of runaways? Or is there a more sinister, larger conspiracy at work? The Railway Detective must unravel the mystifying web of their disappearance before Imogen and Rhoda vanish into oblivion for good.

My Thoughts:

A classically told crime series with historical background and railway focus used to great effect. Edward Marston has created a fine pair with Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming. The only thing that i found annoying and frustrating was the stubbornness and the general "I'm better than you are so you do what I say even if I am an idiot" attitude of all the men. I guess that ws probably close to the way the upper class thought during that period but it was still annoying. Inspector Colbeck just took the whole bumbling group in stride and continued on to solve the case. In this book it's not so much a a case of "Who-done-it" as "How it was done". All together this was a good old fashioned detective story...a bit slow in places but overall a very entertaining read. 4.5 stars. show less

Another very enjoyable read in the Railway Detective Series. A woman and her maid get onto a train, the train doesn't stop at all and when it gets to the next stop they are nowhere to be found on the train! It is up to Inspector Colbeck, and his usual sidekick - Sergeant Leeming, to work out what has happened to them and to find them or their bodies. This was another book that moved along quickly, and was difficult to put down. It is a nice easy reading style and I do like the central group of characters. Watch out for a particularly horrible Member of Parliament amongst all this. If you haven't read any of the series I would recommend them.

Once again the Railway Detective, Robert Colbeck of Scotland Yard & his Sargent Leeming are called upon to solve a mystery.

Imogene and her maid are helped and settled onto the train to Oxford, where they will stay with Imogene's cousin, Emma. For once Imogene's over-protective mother will not be traveling with them.

When the train arrives at Oxford Station, Imogene's aunt Cassandra & cousin Emma are there to meet them... only the two women are nowhere to be found. Aunt Cassandra immediately calls the police & her brother-in-law (an upstanding member of Parliament) and he in turn calls Scotland Yard and demands the assistance of the "Railway Detective".

As the book progresses, Colbeck quickly figures out that Imogene & her maid did get off show more the train at Oxford, but they were disguised as a soldier & his woman who met up and left with another soldier....

Imogene and her maid believe they have run off to elope with the dashing Captain, leaving behind a gilded cage of a life and a truculent bully of a fiancee, who also happens to be a member of Parliament. In reality the Captain turns in to their kidnapper & tormentor.

Yes, I liked the story, it was mostly well written and exciting... However, as always, it was ruined for me by the continual whining of Sargent Leeming (seriously he acts like a 3-4 year old) always dissatisfied & crying about having to ride trains, being away from his wife, having to deal with other people he is subordinate to, and other parts of his job, which is why I continually - ★

As for Colbeck's new wife, Madeline & her fussy father, as usual, I skipped over those parts.

I have one more book in this series next to my bed. If Sargent Leeming continues to act like a selfish child, I'll not continue with the series. show less

This is the first book I read in the series. While I loved the action, there is not much of a detection in it .

A great story - it's one of the best in the series so far. Maybe it's time for Madeline, Colbeck's wife to take a bigger role in the investigations.