Inspector Robert Colbeck Books

London 1851. With the opening of the Great Exhibition at hand, interest is mounting in the engineering triumphs of the railways, but not everyone feels like celebrating… In an audacious attack, the London to Birmingham mail train is robbed and derailed, causing many casualties. Planned with military precision, this crime proves a challenge to Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck who fights to untangle a web of murder, blackmail and destruction. As Colbeck closes in on the criminal masterminds, events take an unexpected turn when the beautiful Madeleine, daughter of the injured train driver, becomes a pawn in the criminals’ game. With time running out, good and evil, new and old, battle against each other. But will the long arm of the law have speed on its side? The Railway Detective is an action-packed dip into murky 1850s London. Full of historical detail, unexpected twists and memorable characters, this is a mystery that will surprise you at every turn.

London, 1852. On the shocking discovery of a passenger’s body on the Great Western Railway excursion train, Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, are dispatched to the scene. Faced with what initially appears to be a motiveless murder, Colbeck is intrigued by the murder weapon – a noose. When it emerges that the victim had worked as a public executioner, Colbeck realizes that this must be intrinsically linked to the killer's choice of weapon. However, the further he delves into the case, the more mysterious it becomes. When a second man is strangled by a noose on a train, Colbeck knows that he must act quickly; can he catch the murderer before more lives are lost? The memorable characters, first featured in The Railway Detective, again lead you down unexpected paths in their quest to solve the mystery of the noose murders.

As a train speeds over the Sankey Viaduct, the dead body of a man is hurled into the canal below. Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming take charge of their most complex and difficult case yet. Hampered by the fact that the corpse has nothing on him to indicate his identity, they are baffled until a young woman comes forward to explain that the murder victim, Gaston Chabal, is an engineer, working on a major rail link in France. As the case takes on an international dimension, problems accumulate. The detectives wonder if the murder is connected to a series of vicious attacks on the rail link that is being built by British navvies under the direction of a British construction engineer. Colbeck and Leeming have to survive personal danger, resistance from the French government, broadsides from their Superintendent, and many other setbacks before they solve the crime.

Derby Day at Epsom Downs. A multitude of people crowd to watch the races: dukes and dustmen, bishops and beggars, privileged ladies and prostitutes--the gamut of Victorian society and a hotbed for crime and crooks of all kinds. With the nation a-flutter in the run up to this national event, a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder, fraud and race-fixing. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant are assigned to the case and are soon snarled up in a web of skullduggery stretching across the country. They are forced to ask themselves, just how much is someone prepared to hazard to win?

October 1854. As an autumnal evening draws to a close, crowds of passengers rush onto the soon to depart London to Brighton Express. A man watches from shadows nearby, grimly satisfied when the train pulls out of the station... Chaos, fatalities and unbelievable destruction are the scene soon after when the train derails on the last leg of its journey. What led to such devastation, and could it simply be a case of driver error? Detective Inspector Colbeck, dubbed the railway detective thinks not. But digging deep to discover the target of the accident takes time, something Colbeck doesn t have as the killer prepares to strike again...

1854. As the Cardiff-bound train puffs out of Paddington Station, young Hugh Kellow wraps a protective arm around his large valise. He has been entrusted with a priceless silver coffee pot, designed in the shape of a locomotive, by his elderly silversmith employer. But two of Hugh’s fellow passengers are taking an enormous interest in the valise and as the journey progresses, Hugh’s tongue is loosened and he tells them all about his priceless cargo. It will be the last mistake he’ll make… When a dead body is discovered in a room at the Cardiff Railway Hotel, beside a large empty valise, the great Railway Detective Robert Colbeck and his trusty sergeant Victor Leeming are called in to investigate; but all is not quite as it seems.

Tragedy strikes close to the Detective Department when an old army friend of Superintendent Tallis walks to meet a speeding train head on. The suicide, prompted by the disappearance of the man’s wife, has shocked the local community and leaves plenty for Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, to uncover. Whispers and rumors abound but did the dead man, Captain Randall, really take his own life in repentance for some harm he did his wife?

The year is 1855, and on the LNWR train to London, a criminal is being escorted to his appointment with the hangman. But the wily Jeremy Oxley, con-man, thief and murderer, has one last ace up his sleeve: a beautiful and ruthless accomplice willing to do anything to save her lover, including committing cold-blooded murder. Inspector Robert Colbeck is dreaming of his impending wedding to Madeleine Andrews as he enters Superintendent Tallis’s office. When he learns that Oxley, his nemesis, has once again escaped, black memories of their shared past leave him no choice but to do his duty. No matter the cost, he must bring the murderous Oxley to justice once and for all. But Jeremy Oxley is no ordinary adversary. He knows the law is on his trail and retreats to his favourite hunting ground: the complex web of railways, sinews of empire, where he can stalk his prey. It spells deadly peril for the famous Railway Detective. With the faithful Victor Leeming at his side and the idealistic young Ian Peebles at his back, Colbeck must use all of his considerable skill to track his elusive enemy. But could Colbeck have finally met his match? A thrilling chase across two continents, Blood on the Line brings the fascinating world of Victorian London vividly to life.

1857. Only when the bonfire finally dies down, the charred remains of his body are found. Who would possibly want to murder a man so universally liked? It’s the question Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Lemming ask when they arrive in Exeter at the request of the South Devon Railway. Yet, as they investigate the stationmaster’s life, they realize he is not as popular as they first believed. With a scorned jilted lover, a resentful colleague and a violent elder brother among the many suspects, the detectives must use all their skill and wit to solve the case.

The driver and fireman of a goods train are speeding along near the Scottish border. As they take a sharp bend, they can see that the track ahead has been ripped up. With no time to break, there’s no way to avert disaster. Before they know what’s happening, the engine has veered off the rails and plunged into the lake below, taking the wagons and men with it. Summoned north by the Caledonian Railway Company, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming learn that the sabotage might be the work of a rival company. But as they proceed, a larger conspiracy seems to be afoot. The targets: the Queen and Prince Consort en route to Balmoral. The legions of Railway Detective fans will be treated to an appearance by Queen Victoria in this the tenth Railway Detective novel.

Young Imogen Burnhope and her maid Rhoda board a non-stop train to Oxford to visit her Aunt Cassandra, who waits on the platform at Oxford station where the train terminates, to greet them. Only they never arrive. All the passengers alight but the two women are nowhere to be seen. The train is searched and the coachman swears he saw them board onto first class, but they seem to have vanished into thin air. The Railway Detective must unravel the mystifying web of their disappearance before Imogen and Rhoda vanish into oblivion for good.

1859. St Mary's Church, Spondon. A little girl playing hide-and-seek jumps into a freshly-dug grave to find a dead man already occupying it. It is the body of Cedric Norton, a senior director of the Midland Railway. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming travel to Derbyshire to investigate.

1860, Wimborne, Dorset. Rebecca Tullidge, miserably married to her callous husband, is having an affair with a railway officer, who she finds dead on the railway tracks. Determined to win votes for the upcoming election of mayor, Mr Feltham calls for Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Lemming to solve the hideous crime, which takes longer than anticipated. With a pregnant wife at home, Colbeck must work at speed if he is to return in time to be there when he becomes a father.

Following a string of successful performances, the Moscardi Circus is travelling by train to Newcastle for their next show. Yet a collision on the track with a couple of sleepers causes pandemonium: passengers are thrown about, animals escape into the night and the future of the circus looks uncertain. When the body of a woman is discovered in woodland next to the derailment, Inspector Colbeck is despatched to lend assistance, believing the two incidents might be connected. It is up to Colbeck to put the pieces together to discover the identity of the nameless woman and unmask who is targeting Moscardi's Magnificent Circus.

December 1860. Headed for the morning shift at the Swindon Locomotive works is an army of men pouring out of terraced houses built by the GWR, a miniature town and planned community that aims to provide for its employees from cradle to grave. Unfortunately, boiler smith Frank Rodman is headed for the grave sooner than he'd expected, or he will be once his missing head is found. Colbeck, the Railway Detective, finds his investigation into Rodman's murder mired in contradictions. Was the victim a short-tempered brawler, or a committed Christian and chorister who aimed to better himself? On the trail of Rodman's enemy as the season starts to bite, Colbeck finds little festive cheer in the twists and turns of this peculiar case.

1861, East Anglia. Alone in a first-class carriage, the Swarbricks are robbed at gunpoint, but when the universally-admired Swarbrick fights back, the train robber takes more than money and jewellery, killing the man working to unify East Anglia’s tangle of railway networks. Inspector Colbeck is brought in from London, as the only detective in Britain with enough expertise for the job. But as Swarbrick’s glowing reputation begins to crumble, the line of investigation isn’t clear: Is this the act of a bungling burglar, a business rival, a disgruntled son, or a jealous lover? Whoever it is, they are determined to involve Colbeck in their fight. Is the Railway Detective following the right track or will he need to switch points to bring the murderer to justice?

Halloween, 1861. A special train with two carriages steams across the Lake District at night on its way to a place notorious for its record of supernatural incidents. Most of those on board have been fortified by alcohol so the mood is boisterous. Without warning the lamp goes out in the last compartment of the second carriage, plunging it into darkness. When the train reaches the end of the line, the passengers pour out on to the station platform. There are almost sixty of them in all, laughing and jostling, but the prevailing excitement is shattered by a cry for help – someone is missing. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are called in to investigate this peculiar occurrence. With some believing the missing man is the victim of a ghost said to haunt the site and no discernible trace of the man anywhere to be seen, this will prove to be a puzzling case indeed for the Railway Detective.

A goods train speeds through the Sapperton Tunnel, but disaster strikes before it can reach the other end as it collides with an unusual blockage on the line: seven sheep penned onto the tracks. Specially requested to investigate the carnage in Gloucestershire, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are confronted with a bizarre case unlike anything they’ve encountered before. Stephen Rydall, a director of the Great Western Railway, is convinced that the tragedy is a personal attack on him and fears for the safety of his shepherd, missing since the incident. Rydall has enemies: a churlish squire, the scheming principal of the Royal agricultural College and a local villain, always one step ahead of the law. But, as Colbeck discovers, there’s a prime suspect much closer to Rydall’s own home.

When Bernard Pomeroy finds a letter slipped under his door in the early hours, he flies into a panic. After dashing off a short note to a friend, he hands it to the porter at Corpus Christi College before hastening on to the railway station and boarding a train leaving Cambridge. However, shortly after disembarking at his destination, the undergraduate lies dead on the platform. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are summoned by the Master of the college to investigate Pomeroy's untimely demise. With the Boat Race on the horizon, the president of the Cambridge Boat Club believes their Oxford rivals are responsible for the death of their talented cox. Yet it seems Pomeroy had ruffled many feathers during his short time at the university. With academic disputes, sporting rivalry and a clandestine romance in play, the Railway Detective will have to disentangle the many threads of Pomeroy's life in order to answer the truth about his death.

December 1864. As a cold winter wind scours the Worcestershire countryside, an excursion train comes through a tunnel in the Malvern Hills to be confronted by a blockage on the line ahead. The driver manages to slow the train down so that the impact is minimised, but the passengers are alarmed. The first person to alight is Cyril Hubbleday, the man in charge of the excursion to the delightful spa town of Great Malvern. He walks to the front of the locomotive and as he is talking to the driver, fireman and guard, Hubbleday is shot dead by a sniper. Christmas is coming all too soon and Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming are under pressure to solve the case quickly. However, with a number of disputes and enemies in the shadows behind the seasonal excursion and the investigation hampered by heavy snow, the hunt for a cold-blooded killer is far from straightforward.

Get the latest mystery in the bestselling Railway Detective series ... 1866. On a train bound for Portsmouth, an elegant woman shares a compartment with the lecherous Giles Blanchard. It is a lucky encounter for her, as she steps off the train after picking his pocket and in possession of scandalous material for a potential blackmail. It is a less fortuitous meeting for Blanchard, who will never reach his home on the Isle of Wight alive. Detective Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are swiftly dispatched to sift through the evidence. With Queen Victoria poised to spend the summer on the island, a speedy resolution to the case is imperative for their superiors. Tracing Blanchard's killer is an endeavour freighted with difficulties, but will the fact that their inquiries lead them to the door of a royal residence be one complication too many?

Shrewsbury, 1866. When staff at the Station Hotel try to rouse Julian Lockyer, they are horrified to discover his bloodied corpse, a knife still in his hand. Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, is called to investigate and soon begins to question whether it was really suicide. Lockyer was on the verge of being named Chairman of the Great Western Railway, the pinnacle of his career, why would he end his life now? And why did he keep his trip secret from his family? Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming must dig deeper into Lockyer's life and lies to find the answers and to catch a killer.