The Railway Detective Books in Order: How to read Edward Marston’s series?

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Also known as the Inspector Colbeck series, the series written by Edward Marston (Home Front Detective) is set in the 1850s and follows Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant Sergeant Victor Leeming’s investigations for the Metropolitan Railway Police in London.

Exploring the historical context of the development of the British railway system during the Victorian era, Edward Marston’s Railway Detective series offers a richly detailed portrayal of the social, economic, and technological changes brought about by the growth of the railways in 19th-century Britain.

How to read the Railway Detective Series in Order?

Each entry in the Railway Detective book series usually has a self-contained mystery that Colbeck and Leeming must solve, as well as insights into the obstacles and opportunities given by the developing railway network.

1. The Railway Detective – London 1851. The Great Exhibition is about to open, and interest in the engineering achievements of the railways is growing. However, not everyone wants to celebrate… The London to Birmingham mail train is robbed and derailed in a brazen attack that leaves many people dead. This crime was well planned and presents a challenge for Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck as he attempts to unravel a web of murder, blackmail, and devastation.
2. The Excursion Train – Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming are called to the scene after the horrifying discovery of a passenger’s body aboard a Great Western Railway excursion train. Colbeck is captivated by the murder weapon-a noose-when confronted with what at first seems to be a murder without a cause. Colbeck realizes that the victim’s employment as a public executioner must be directly related to the killer’s weapon of choice.
3. The Railway Viaduct – 1852. The most intricate and challenging case that Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming have ever encountered is before them. A guy gets thrown from a carriage and falls into the canal below as a train goes over the Sankey Viaduct. Later, it is discovered that he had been fatally stabbed. The investigators’ investigation is impeded right away since they lack any identification documents for the individual.

4. The Iron Horse – It is Derby Day at Epsom Downs and people from many walks of life congregate to watch the races, including dukes, dustmen, bishops, rich women, and prostitutes. The whole spectrum of Victorian society and a haven for criminals of all stripes. A disembodied skull is found at Crewe station in the days leading up to this major event, setting off a series of mysterious occurrences that include murder, fraud, and race-fixing. When given the case, Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant quickly become entangled in a web of skulduggery that spans the whole nation.
5. Murder on the Brighton Express – October, 1854. A guy observes from the neighboring shadows as hordes of people race to catch the departure of the London to Brighton Express. After the train derails just outside the Balcombe Tunnel, there is immediate chaos, death, and incredible wreckage. Could it just be a driving mistake? Colbeck, a detective inspector, disagrees.
6. The Silver Locomotive Mystery – Winifred Tomkins is horrified when a horrific murder occurs at the Railway Hotel. She doesn’t give any thought to the deceased goldsmith and is just concerned with her lost riches. By telegraph, the Detective Department’s Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are sent to Wales from London, where they are shortly met with several new crimes.

7. Railway to the Grave – Yorkshire 1855. In the little Yorkshire town of South Otterington, the locals revere Colonel Aubrey Tarleton for both his social standing and his valiant military exploits. Tarleton purposely steps into the path of a speeding train, shocking the neighborhood. While he is being crushed to death on the track, the train driver notices the letter that is pinned to his chest and flapping in the wind, which reads: “Whoever finds me, notify Superintendent Tallis of the Detective Department at Scotland Yard.”
8. Blood on the Line – 1857. Black memories of their common history force Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck to carry out his duties at all costs when he discovers that Oxley, his arch enemy, has fled. Colbeck must utilize all of his abilities, aided by the devoted Victor Leeming, to find his elusive foe. But may he have found his mate at last?
9. The Stationmaster’s Farewell – Guy Fawkes Night, 1857. The well-liked stationmaster of Exeter St. David’s Railway Station is Joel Heygate, a tall, impressive guy with bushy eyebrows, a walrus moustache, and a frock coat and top hat. But when it is revealed that Mr. Heygate’s burnt body parts were found amid the embers of the town’s annual Bonfire Night celebration, everyone is appalled. When Scotland Yard receives a request for help from the South Devon Railway, Superintendent Edward Tallis promptly dispatches Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his deputy Victor Leeming to Exeter.

10. Peril on the Royal Train – Spring, 1858. A deadly accident deviates the Caledonian Railway’s path across the southern uplands of the Scottish countryside. As part of their investigation, Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming must battle Superintendent Rory McTurk, an old adversary, to identify the culprits responsible for the catastrophe.
11. A Ticket to Oblivion – Summer, 1858. Imogen Burnhope, a little girl, travels to Oxford with her maid Rhoda on a nonstop train, where Imogen’s aunt Cassandra is waiting to welcome them. At Oxford, all of the passengers disembark, but the two women are not there. The coachman insists he saw them enter first class, and the train is investigated, but they appear to have gone into thin air.
12. Timetable of Death – 1859. Local law enforcement is stumped by the inexplicable murder of Vivian Quayle, director of the Midland Railway and a cornerstone of the neighborhood, and they need Scotland Yard’s help. An unfavorable picture develops as Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming piece together the victim’s dying moments and suspicions and reasons increase. Only the Railway Detective can solve this case.

13. Signal for Vengeance – 1860, Dorset. An affair with a different guy provides a married lady with some relief from her unhappy home life. The traditional story, however, takes on a fresh twist when the wife falls over her deceased boyfriend while heading to a tryst on the railroad tracks. Inspector Colbeck is called in from London to solve the heinous crime, but the case is difficult to unravel given the victim’s shady history and the abundance of competing alibis.
14. The Circus Train Conspiracy – The Moscardi Circus is traveling by rail to Newcastle for its upcoming run of shows following its huge success in Carlisle. A collision with a few sleepers on the track results in chaos: people are flung around, animals escape, and the circus’s future becomes dubious. The Railway Detective Inspector Colbeck is called in to conduct an investigation when a woman’s body is found nearby in the woods.
15. A Christmas Railway Mystery – December, 1860. Men in droves leave their neighboring GWR-built terraced homes for the Swindon Locomotive Works to work the morning shift. Frank Rodman ought to have been one of them, but his current location is the cemetery or will be if his headless body is discovered. Inspector Colbeck doesn’t need a difficult case that is riddled with discrepancies when Christmas is quickly coming.

16. Points of Danger – East Anglia, 1861. The Swarbricks are robbed at gunpoint while riding alone in a first-class carriage. But when the much adored Swarbrick responds, the train robber kills the man trying to integrate East Anglia’s disparate railway networks in addition to taking money and jewelry. Inspector Colbeck is sent in from London, but when Swarbrick’s impeccable image starts to tarnish, it’s unclear what to look into. Is this the work of a careless thief, a competitive businessperson, a resentful son, or an envious lover?
17. Fear on the Phantom Special – Halloween, 1861. In the middle of the night, a special train with two carriages travels through the Lake District on its way to a location renowned for its history of paranormal occurrences. Alcohol has been consumed by the majority of individuals on board, which has boosted their energy levels. The bulb abruptly goes out in the second carriage’s final compartment, leaving it in complete darkness. The passengers swarm onto the station platform as the train reaches its destination. A call for aid signals that someone is missing. There are about sixty of them in total, laughing and shoving one another.
18. Slaughter in the Sapperton Tunnel – A cargo train is traveling quickly through the Sapperton Tunnel when calamity strikes when it collides with a strange obstruction on the tracks: seven sheep that have been corralled. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are given a unique assignment to look into the devastation in Gloucestershire and are met with a case that is unlike anything they have ever seen before.

19. Tragedy on the Branch Line – Robert Pomeroy, a freshman at Corpus Christi College, is in a panic when he discovers a note tucked under his door in the wee hours of a rainy day. He quickly gets ready and scribbles a few lines while waiting for the porter to call his buddy Nicholas Thorpe, then rushes to the train station. He does not, however, make it to his destination. Sergeant Leeming and Inspector Colbeck are requested to look into this incident aboard the train.
20. The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case – December 1864. An excursion train enters a tunnel in the Malvern Hills and is met with an obstruction on the railway ahead as a chilly winter wind sweeps the Worcestershire countryside. The train is slowed down by the driver to lessen the impact, but the passengers are worried. Cyril Hubbleday, the guy in charge of the tour to the lovely spa resort of Great Malvern, is the first person to go. A sniper shoots Hubbleday to death while he is speaking to the guard, driver, and fireman at the front of the locomotive.
21. Death at the Terminus – 1865. In York station, a passenger train is stationary. The guard, Jack Follis, keeps an eye on the platform to make sure everyone is on board securely. He goes back to the brake van and puts a box inside. Follis is startled by a burning scent. There is an explosion and the entire vehicle is consumed in flames before he can determine the reason. Robert Colbeck and Victor Leeming are dispatched in response to a request from the North Eastern Railway to look into the matter. Colbeck disagrees with Leeming’s belief that a crime has been committed. Despite the limited information they have, he is certain that a murder has occurred.
22. Murder in Transit – Agnes Raybould and her friend boarded a train on an empty first-class car on an ominous, stormy evening on the Isle of Wight. However, a middle-aged man soon joins them and strikes up a chat after dining at his club. He is obviously in a good mood. Edwin Blanchard is his name, and Agnes and her accomplice strangle him as soon as the train pulls away from the station. The circumstances of Tallis’ brutal murder are promptly relayed to Detective Inspector Colbeck at Scotland Yard.

 

If you like our article about the Inspector Colbeck series in order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also be interested in the Murdoch Mysteries, the Museum Mysteries series and the Blitz Detective series.