by Keith Miles
First published 2009
Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck arrives at a grisly scene aboard a Great Western Railway excursion train. A passenger lies dead, killed by a noose. The murder appears random until Colbeck learns the victim worked as a public executioner. The killer chose the weapon deliberately. Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming dig deeper into the case, but answers prove elusive. Then a second victim dies by noose on another train. The pattern becomes clear. Someone targets specific men and uses trains as killing grounds. Colbeck races against time as the murderer remains free to strike again. The detective must decode the killer's motives and methods before more passengers die. Set against the backdrop of Victorian England's expanding railway system, the case tests Colbeck's skills as both detective and protector of innocent travelers.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, race-against-time
Setting: Great Western Railway, Victorian England
Period: 19th Century
164 pages · Kindle Edition · Allison & Busby