The Railway Viaduct

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The Railway Viaduct
Edward Marston - The Railway Viaduct.jpg
A Detective Inspector Colbeck Mystery
AuthorEdward Marston (Keith Miles)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesRailway Detective
Genre Detective, Mystery novel
Publisher Allison & Busby
Publication date
2006
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages319 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBN 978-0-7490-8114-0
Preceded by The Excursion Train  
Followed by The Iron Horse  

The Railway Viaduct is the third title in the Railway Detective series of detective mystery novels written by Keith Miles under the pseudonym Edward Marston. [1] Set in 1852, it is about a murder on a train which is investigated and ultimately solved by two Scotland Yard detectives, Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming. The title place is the Sankey Viaduct on the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The novel was published in 2006 by Allison & Busby of London. [2] The graphic on the book cover is from T. T. Bury's 1831 depiction called Viaduct across the Sankey Valley in his Liverpool and Manchester Railway series of paintings. According to the publishers in a 2018 news release, the series has been optioned for television adaptation by Mammoth Screen. [3]

Contents

Plot introduction

A French railway engineer is killed on a train crossing the Sankey Viaduct and his body is flung over the parapet into the canal below.

Plot summary

Inspector Robert Colbeck, Sergeant Victor Leeming and their former colleague Brendan Mulryne follow the trail to France where they meet Thomas Brassey, whose construction of the Mantes to Caen railway is being sabotaged. First Leeming and then Mulryne must pose as navvies to unravel a conspiracy.

Characters in "The Railway Viaduct"

Main characters (all recurring)

For a full description of the main characters, who all recur throughout the series, see The Railway Detective .

Villains

Other characters

Historical references

T. T. Bury's Viaduct across the Sankey Valley (1831) Viaduct across the Sankey Valley, from Bury's Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1831 - artfinder 122455.jpg
T. T. Bury's Viaduct across the Sankey Valley (1831)

The Detective Department of the Metropolitan Police Force (the Met) was founded in 1842 and so was only ten years old in 1852, when the story is set.

Notes and sources

  1. "Inspector Robert Colbeck". www.edwardmarston.com.
  2. "Series published by Allison & Busby". www.allisonandbusby.com.
  3. "Cool Extras for The Railway Detective". www.allisonandbusby.com.

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