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    Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries
    Unavailable
    Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries
    Unavailable
    Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries
    Ebook388 pages6 hours

    Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries

    By Sourcebooks

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Discover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library's archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, these enduring classics were written in the golden age of detective fiction.

    "This is the perfect volume for fans of short, high-quality, fair-play detective fiction." —Publishers Weekly

    "Never had I been given a tougher problem to solve, and never had I been so utterly at my wits' end for a solution."

    A signalman is found dead by a railway tunnel. A man identifies his wife as a victim of murder on the underground. Two passengers mysteriously disappear between stations, leaving behind a dead body.

    Trains have been a favourite setting of many crime writers, providing the mobile equivalent of the "locked-room" scenario. Their enclosed carriages with a limited number of suspects lend themselves to seemingly impossible crimes. In an era of cancellations and delays, alibis reliant upon a timely train service no longer ring true, yet the railway detective has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the twenty-first century.

    Both train buffs and crime fans will delight in this selection of fifteen railway-themed classic mysteries, featuring some of the most popular authors of their day alongside less familiar names. This is a classic short story collection to beguile even the most wearisome commuter.

    These fascinating mystery stories are:

    • For fans of Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz
    • Perfect for readers of Classic Crime Fiction and Golden-Age Murder Mysteries

    Also in the British Library Crime Classics:

    Smallbone Deceased

    The Body in the Dumb River

    Blood on the Tracks

    Surfeit of Suspects

    Death Has Deep Roots

    Checkmate to Murder

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateJul 3, 2018
    ISBN9781464209703
    Unavailable
    Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries

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    Reviews for Blood on the Tracks

    4/5

    35 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      anthology, short-stories, trains, mystery A wonderful collection of vintage reads by beloved English mystery writers. With fifteen stories to choose from it would be very difficult to choose the best, but why bother when all are interesting yet don't require a lot of time. I found each to be just the right length and interest level for many different waits. I had a wonderful time with these select reads.I requested and received a free copy via NetGalley, many thanks!
    • 4/5
      This book was sent to me by Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you.This collection of short stories edited by Martin Edwards focuses on crimes committed on trains, in train tunnels, and near train tracks. It is set up chronologically beginning with an Arthur Conan Doyle story not starring Sherlock Holmes. The stories are, as usual with an anthology, a mixed bag. Some are immediately forgotten; some are downright disappointing; some are outstanding. The best story, in my opinion is by F. Tennyson Jesse, the author of a Pin to See the Peepshow. Three people are in a third class train compartment: a young woman, an old woman, and a nondescript man. They do not speak and the compartment is quiet until a few stations down a group of men join them. The conversation among the men is about a young man who was hanged that day. As the story progresses it becomes apparent that the passengers have more than a passing relationship with the executed man. The story has a shocking, bittersweet ending.Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter is a passenger on a train when he offers an opinion on a murder that the other passengers are discussing, Other authors are Freeman Wills Crofts whose would-be murderer lives near train tracks and plans to murder his victim and leave the body on the tracks for the train to run over. Michael Gilbert has Petrella and his colleagues following suspected jewel thieves on London’s Underground. Michael Innes’s story is set on a movie set with a prop train.This is a fun collection and recommended for golden age mystery fans and anyone who wants a bit of nostalgic entertainment.
    • 2/5
      I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.A collection of detective stories all featuring railway (and underground railway) crimes. The editor, Martin Edwards, has included interesting mini-biographies of each of the authors. I can't say I really enjoyed these, and I gave up at the half-way point. I liked the "Affair of the Corridor Express", and the "Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway", but they all started to merge together after a while - there are only so many ways some one can mysteriously die on or disappear from a train.I also found the stories rather cerebral (like a puzzle as opposed to a realistic description of human behaviour). The solutions were often very far-fetched and impossible for the reader to work out on his own. Not for me.
    • 4/5
      Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance reading eBook via Netgalley. The views expressed are my own.Each story in this collection has a connection to the railway or to train travel. They are set in Britain in the early part of the 20th century when train travel was probably the most common mode of transport. The anthology contains 15 short stories. The authors include such heavy weights as Arthur Conan Doyle ("The Man with the Watches") and Dorothy L. Sayers ("The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face"). There are contributions from such well known Golden Age of Murder authors as Baroness Orczy ("The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway"), Freeman Wills Croft ("The Level Crossing") and R. Austin Freeman ("The Case of Oscar Brodski"). Several of the authors are new to me and Edwards' introductions at the beginning of each story are welcome background to the author's life and writings.My difficulty with reviewing an anthology such as this is the variety of the stories: different styles, plot devices and so on. Not every story will probably appeal to every reader . Martin Edwards, the editor of this anthology wrote in a recent blog that "...diversity of content is the hallmark of a great anthology." In this one, he has succeeded is putting together a good anthology. There are clever intricate plots galore which for me is the mark of a good short detective story. There is not a bad story in the collection, although of course some are more enjoyable than others. Some are more dated than others (mostly in the dialogue), but most stand the test of time.It's a good collection of detective stories and is recommended reading for lovers of the Golden Age of Murder. It's also a good introduction to some lesser known Golden Age authors.
    • 3/5
      An uneven, but mostly enjoyable collection of short stories compiled by Martin Edwards."The Man with the Watches" by Arthur Conan Doyle - A mysterious death on a train is solved when a letter from abroad arrives."The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel" by L. T. Meade & Robert Eustace - The death of a signalman casts suspicion upon a railway worker. Before investigators arrive on the scene, they find another corpse in almost the same location. Science solves the mystery."How He Cut His Stick" by Matthias McDonnell Bodkin - A thief gets off a train traveling at full speed. Dora Myrl figures out how."The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway" by Baroness Orczy - A look back at an unsolved murder about a woman poisoned on a train."The Affair of the Corridor Express" by Victor L. Whitechurch - The son of a wealthy Londoner is kidnapped on a train while in the care of a school official, disappearing before the destination is reached."The Case of Oscar Brodski" by R. Austin Freeman - Forensic evidence helps solve the crime."The Eighth Lamp" by Roy Vickers - More suspense than mystery. A signalman sees a circle line train running after hours. Still enjoyable, even if the mystery element is not strong."The Knight's Cross Signal Problem" by Ernest Bramah - A signalman performed his duties but an oncoming train sees a "go ahead" resulting in a crash. A blind detective figures out what happened."The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face" by Dorothy L. Sayers - A corpse with a mutilated face appears on a beach with no clues to the victim's identity left. While riding a train, the detective overhears Lord Peter Wimsey's theory, leading to the victim's identification. "The Railway Carriage" by F. Tennyson Jesse - Solange Fontaine boards a train headed for London in Merchester. The occupants of her third class car speak of the execution of a young man that morning. The train crashes. With the next car aflame, a young man appears urging them to get out, but then he disappears."Mystery of the Slip-Coach" by Sapper - A bookmaker's corpse lies in a railway coach with egg splattered upon the door. A bullet killed him. One passenger's luggage contains a firearm, but the bullet doesn't match."The Level Crossing" by Freeman Wills Crofts - After a stock deal, a man is found dead at a railway crossing."The Adventure of the First-Class Carriage" by Ronald Knox - A Sherlock Holmes mystery written by someone other than Doyle."Murder on the 7.16" by Michael Innes - "Not a real murder" on "not a real train." Different!"The Coulman Handicap" by Michael Gilbert - A woman under surveillance gives her tail the slip in a case involving precious jewels.
    • 4/5
      A collection of early genre mystery stories set on the railways of 1900s england. Variable in quality but generally nicely done, by some of the more series names in the genre. Easily read, easily put-down, there was nothing particularly clever or shocking in any of the cases, solutions, characters or writing.