Death on a Branch Line

A chance meeting at York Station with a condemned man causes Jim Stringer to put off his trip to Scarborough with his wife to go to the small village of Adenwold instead. Hugh Lambert persuades Stringer, more by his manner than anything else, that he is innocent of murdering his father, and that his brother could be in danger. As Lambert's hanging is set for the Monday, Stringer only has a weekend to discover the true murderer.

Stringer and his wife, Lydia, stay at the inn while they try to get to the bottom of Sir George's murder. Adenwold is a sleepy village, whose decline has been accelerated by the coming of the railway. It is a village of its time, with the local lords, in the guise of the Lamberts, a cricket match, rabbit shooting, show more an eccentric station master with his toy soldiers and a ever-so hands on vicar. Add into the mix the heightening tension between the U.K. and Germany, and a man with papers in German, and you have all of the ingredients of a good mystery.

I enjoyed the book, especially the short time frame, which made the story move at a cracking pace. I am also giving this an extra half a star for Lydia finally getting the page time she deserves. In this, the fifth instalment of the Railway Detective series, Jim's wife is along for the ride, and gets stuck right into the mystery.

The next book is ready and waiting! show less

This is a fast-paced Jim Stringer novel, the action takes place over one hot weekend in Yorkshire. We start out at the busy York station, when everyone is off to the seaside, with the exception of a condemned man who has an unexpected stopover in Jim Stringer's office. Jim is convinced of his innocence and has the weekend to prove it.
Along with his clever wife, Lydia, Jim sets off for the Yorkshire countryside. The story has many twists and turns as different characters are suspected and tracked. The novel has Andrew Martin's usual gentle wit and excellent story telling. The language is plain but always descriptive and the characters are well drawn and authentic.
An excellent read.

Another satisfying mystery featuring the Edwardian railway policeman Jim Stringer, although sadly, for me at least, less satisfying than the earlier books in the series. I wont say why since I fear it would make me look incredibly priggish. On the positive side, there are some good red herrings and the story makes clever use of the anxiety about Germany that was on the increase at the time.

Another railway detective story, the fifth in the series. Once again a good Edwardian ambience and a railway theme, with model railways and model soldiers thrown in too. The detective story is slow-paced and sedate, despite taking place over the course of a single weekend. It's rather a pleasant change from fast-paced thrillers.

An Edwardian railway detective story, the fifth in this series.
It captures the feel of the period with a good ambience and, of course, railway theme. The detective story is slow-paced and sedate, despite taking place over the course of a single weekend, Jim Stringer and his wife have a short period of time to save a man from the gallows by proving his innocence. They travel to his country home and become embroiled in a bigger case than they expected.

En historisk kriminalhistoria av (?) och för tågentusiaster! Huvudpersonen är något så kuriöst som järnvägspolis stationerad i York och händelserna äger rum i juli 1911.
Men historien är tråkig, för det mesta. Det är en klassisk (engelsk?) uppbyggnad där alla är misstänkta till att börja med, men sedan avverkas misstanke efter misstanke och till slut står det bara någon kvar att vara den skyldige. Inte tillräckligt engagerande.