This is the third in Marston's "The Railway Detective" series, featuring Insp Robert Colbeck and his colleague, Sergeant Victor Leeming, of the nascent Scotland Yard pain-clothes crime investigation force. Like many police detective stories, our hero has not only to battle against criminals but also against internal interference and incompetence, in Colbeck's case in the form of his immediate superior, Supt Tallis.Colbeck became associated with the resolution of a robbery on the railways in the first novel and so is now, much to the frustration of Tallis, called upon, at the request of the railway companies, to resolve any further crimes that happen across the railway networks.In this latest story the apparent crime is that of a railway passenger seemingly having fallen from a train crossing a viaduct in north-west England. But, did he fall or was he pushed and, when he fell, was he already dead? More importantly, who was he? Fortunately for Colbeck and his investigation. the event was captured by a landscape artist who just happened to be painting a picture of the viaduct and so can supply important evidence to help solve the case.It eventually transpires that the crime has an origin in France, there a British company is helping to build France's railway network. However, someone doesn't want this to succeed and the death in England is just part of a plot to sabotage the construction effort. So, Colbeck and Leeming are sent to France, much against Tallis's wishes, to uncover the perpetrators.The story is fast-paced and uses Marston's favourite device for advancing the action of omitting details of the action itself but reviewing it in subsequent conversation between various characters. It's a writing device that works well in small doses and, fortunately, Marston uses it only in short doses but to good effect.I have become very much a fan of these novels and look forward to getting hold of the subsequent ones in the series.
A man is thrown from a moving train as it crosses a viaduct, and an artist captures the moment. This is the exciting start of the latest case for Robert Colbeck. The third in the Railway destective sereies sees Robert Colbeck spending part of his investigation in France, among the railway engineers, while his trusty sergeant Victor Leeming tries to infiltrate a violent group of Irish navvies that are suspected of sabotage. Me meet Madeline Andrews and her father again, although they don't play such a big role, it' nice to have non police characters that reaccur in each book - how long I wonder before she is Mrs Colbeck? Although not my favourite in the series, this was enojoyable escapism after a much heavier read (Iris Murdoch).
What do You think about The Railway Viaduct (2007)?
A body is thrown from a train crossing the Sankey viaduct, and it lands in a canal. There were no witnesses on the train, and apparently none on the ground below. Until a watercolour artist responds to Inspector Robert Colbeck's advert with a perfect painting of the scene, showing the falling body, three passers-by and a canal barge at the scene (as well as a few cows, but they don't count). With his trusty Sergeant, Victor Leeming, they set out to identity the victim and to catch the killer. Co
—Peter Auber
Whilst I find the historical interjections interesting they are also a little stilted and don't always help the story. The story, however, is well though out and interesting. It was a good read, and I am looking forward to reading others in the series.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
—Kate Millin
The third book in the series of the Railway Detective. Usually set in England when the railroad was becoming the major mode of transportation, the majority of this story takes place in France where an English contractor and his group of Irish navvies are building a new rail line. One of the contractor's design engineers is murdered and Inspector Colbeck and his faithful assistant Leeming are on the trail, moving between England and France to solve the mystery. This is pretty light reading but is entertaining enough for a rainy day curled up in your favorite chair.
—Jill Hutchinson
