It's 1852 and a train load of men are headed for a championship bare knuckles fight on board the Great Western. To the relief if the railroad police ion board there are no major incidents on the trip. It's when train is inspected prior to it's return that a dead body is found on board. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Lemming are dispatched by Scotland Yard to investigate. As their investigation comes closer to who killed the man and why, the killer strikes again. Can the tow find the killer before he strikes again? This is an enjoyable series ( )

This is the second novel in the Railway Detective series set in the mid 19th century. The initial murder takes place on an excursion train taking hundreds of relatively poor people to an illegal bare-knuckle prizefight - an early example of the then revolutionary effect of the railways in opening up access by relatively poor people to popular entertainment taking place many miles away from their homes, which they could not have feasibly got to beforehand. Aside from this, the railways are not as integral to the plot here as in the first novel of the series, this one revolving on complex family relationships resulting in a trio of murders. A good page turner, though as with the first one, most of the main characters are rather cliched and the dialogue often reads to me as rather stilted. ( )

4.5 stars ( )

This second novel in the Detective Inspector Colbeck mysteries begins when a Great Western train leaves from Paddington to go to an illegal boxing match in Berkshire. Sam Horlock, a railway policeman and Ted Galway, the train guard are worried because they are carrying over 1000 working class, drunken men. When the train stops at its destination, most of the fight fans leave for the three-mile walk from Twyford Station to the venue of the fight between 'Mad' Isaac Rosen, a Bradford slaughterhouse employee and Bill 'The Bargeman' Hignett, a London barge worker. One man is left aboard, apparently asleep in a second class compartment. When the railway police try to wake him up, they find Jacob Bransby, a cobbler, garroted.

Railway Detective Robert Colbeck is tasked to find the murderer. He discovers that Bransby still has his gold watch and some gold coins in a hidden pocket in his trousers. His wallet is intact. Apparently, he has just moved his wife from Clerkenwell to Shoreditch. When Colbeck and partner, Victor Leeming discover that Jacob Bransby is really Jacob Guttridge, a public executioner, they know they will have more suspects than they can handle.

One of my favorite things about this series is that the crimes completely fit the Victorian period. Nothing is out of place in his books. Colbeck is a Scotland Yard detective, but his love of trains and his ability to solve the crimes committed on the railways sets him apart. The Excursion Train was excellent, and you could easily read it without having read the first one. I definitely plan to continue the series with the third book, The Railway Viaduct. ( )

Excursion Train by Edward Marston – This is book two in the Railway Detective series by Marston. It is another very entertaining novel about the 19th-Century Scotland Yard inspector, Robert Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming. A man is murdered in a Great Western Railway carriage during a crowded excursion to a boxing match. Colbeck and Leeming quickly become embroiled in a complex case that involves multiple murders, multiple suspects, and an attempted murder of Inspector Colbeck. In addition to the unique railroad environment, this book is populated by interesting characters, and Marston provides an engaging story. I thought this book was even more enjoyable than the first volume in the series and I look forward to reading more of this series. ( )