Death on a Branch Line (Jim Stringer Mystery) [Hardcover]

`Offers a snap-shot into a beautifully realised Victorian world.'

`The story builds up a good head of steam early on and rattles along nicely to a satisfying conclusion.'

`It has the best title yet ... this one is just right.'

Jim Stringer has 48 hours to uncover the truth in the fifth book in the widely celebrated ‘Steam Detective’ series.

It’s the sweltering summer of 1911, and one Friday evening a special train rolls into York station. It carries a young aristocrat recently found guilty of murdering his father in the sleepy village of Adenwold. He is briefly entrusted into the custody of railway detective Jim Stringer, and he warns of another murder likely to happen in the same village – that of his brother, a reclusive intellectual. Jim and his wife Lydia take the train along the near deserted branch line to Adenwold. Here they encounter a host of likely suspects and the intended victim, as Jim has one weekend in which to stop a murder and unravel a conspiracy of international dimensions.

The sweltering summer of 1911. Trouble is brewing with Germany. Half the country is on strike; the other half seems to be in flames. And in his most perplexing case to date, railway detective Jim Stringer has forty-eight hours to solve a murder not yet committed . . . One Friday evening, a special train rolls into York station. It carries a young aristocrat lately found guilty of murdering his father. The condemned man is briefly entrusted into Jim’s custody, and warns of another murder that will happen in his home village. Jim and his strong-willed wife, Lydia, take the train along the near-deserted branch line. They seek out the intended victim, who, despite their attempts to warn him, stubbornly refuses to leave on the next train. Jim has one weekend to track an ever-growing number of suspects, stop a murder and unravel a conspiracy of international dimensions. The latest in Andrew Martin’s widely celebrated ‘Steam Detective’ series. ‘Andrew Martin delivers a pacy yarn with a sure touch.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Finely honed crime novels with plotting as precise as a Swiss watch.’ Daily Express

Andrew Martin grew up in Yorkshire. After qualifying as a barrister he became a freelance journalist, in which capacity he has tended to write about the North, class, trains, seaside towns and eccentric individuals. His hugely acclaimed Jim Stringer novels are The Necropolis Railyway, The Blackpool Highflyer, The Lost Luggage Porter and Murder at Deviation Junction.