A different Railway Detective

I've just read the first of a different series of railway detective books, set in Victorian England of the mid-19th century: The Railway Detective by Edward Marston (touchstone seems to give the wrong author). Like the Jim Stringer series the pace is sedate and the plot not unduly complex, but it makes for pleasant enough reading. Both the period setting and the railway ambience add interest.

There the similarities end. The Stringer books seem more gritty and down to earth, and Jim Stringer is a working class man whom we see making his way up from the bottom, unlike the outwardly foppish Inspector Robert Colbeck who is introduced to us at the peak of his career. There is a hint of Holmes and Watson in Colbeck and his loyal sergeant, Victor Leeming. The Stringer cases are more local in their impact (despite the need to travel all over the country, and in one case to France) whereas the case Colbeck solves in the first book has implications for the Great Exhibition and perhaps even the future of rail travel. There is one further similarity: both Stringer and Colbeck are plagued by unimaginative and at times obstructive superiors.

I enjoyed it and will try to read more of the series. My guess is that those who don't like the Stringer books won't like this series much either.

The link for "The Railway Detective" by Edward Marston is: http://www.librarything.com/work/1596539

Have you read the Keith Miles title of the same name, that's in your touchstone?

Edward Marston and Keith Miles are the same person. Keith Miles is the name that has been put in the canonical name field on his author page, so that is the name that shows up for him. The touchstone in message 1 is correct. The link in message 2 is a different book by the same author (book #3 in the series).

I can see the touchstone work by Keith Miles actually shows a cover with Marston's name.