Published by Allison & Busby, April
2012.
ISBN: 978-0749040215
Joel Heygate, the
stationmaster at Exeter Station, is liked and respected by his passengers,
staff and employers. It seems impossible
that such a fine man should be murdered, but this is the case and his charred
body is discovered on the enormous bonfire that is annually built in Exeter
Cathedral close as the people of Exeter
celebrate Guy Fawkes night.
The managing director of the railway contacts Scotland Yard and
requests that Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck is sent to Exeter to help the local police solve the
crime. Colbeck is known to the newspapers, and through them the public, as the
Railway Detective, because of his fascination with the railway and his numerous
successes in solving railway based crimes.
Colbeck and his sergeant, Victor Leeming, soon discover many people
with motives to wish Joel Heygate harm.
These include his ambitious second-in-command at the station, who knows
he will never gain promotion while Heygate remains in his post. Also there is Heygate's wastrel brother and
sister-in-law, who have wasted all their business opportunities and expect
Heygate to continually supply financial support. Initially, however, the chief suspect is a
thug that Heygate had ejected from Exeter Station; a vicious criminal who swore
he'd be revenged.
Even those who loved and admired Joel Heygate cannot be cleared of
complicity in his death. The manageress
of Exeter Station Tea Rooms has become so obsessed by her erroneous belief that
Heygate returns her affections that his terrible death causes her to suffer a
mental breakdown. Her incarceration
leads Colbeck and Leeming to discover the horrors of the local lunatic asylum.
After initial resentment the local police are very helpful but the
arrogant Bishop of Exeter is not.
Because the body was discovered in the Cathedral close, the Bishop
insists the crime was an attempt to embarrass and intimidate him. Placating the egotistical Bishop wastes
police time and resources, especially when it leads to the arrival in Exeter of
Colbeck's boss, Superintendent Tallis.
Colbeck is determined to gain justice for Joel Heygate but he also has
a pressing reason to wish to return to London
as soon as possible. The date of his
wedding is imminent. Colbeck is very
much in love with Madeleine; torn between love and duty, he fears he will have
to postpone their wedding.
The Stationmaster's Farewell is the latest
book in the Railway Detective series. Like
all of the books in this series it is well-crafted, with convincing period
detail. There is a lot of information
about the Victorian railways, not merely factual but also the social attitudes
and prejudices surrounding the railways and their effect on society. The plot is interesting with a large number
of twists and turns. The relationship
between the three Scotland Yard detectives, Colbeck, Leeming and Tallis, is
well drawn and continually developing, especially the relationship between
Colbeck and the irascible, somewhat jealous, but basically honourable
Superintendent Tallis.
The Stationmaster's Farewell is a very good
read, as are the earlier books in the series.
-----
Reviewer: Carol Westron
Edward Marston was born and brought
up in Wales.
He read Modern History at Oxford
then lectured in the subject for three years before becoming a full-time
freelance writer.
His first historical
mystery,
The Queen's Head, was published in 1988.
Marston has worked as an actor and director,
and once ran his own professional fringe theatre company. He has also taught
drama in a prison and worked as a story editor for a film company at Pinewood.
He has written over forty original plays for radio, television and the theatre,
and hundreds of episodes of drama series. But he now concentrates on developing
the various series of crime novels that have come from his pen. Under the
pseudonym of
Conrad
Allen he has written eight nautical mysteries, set during the
Edwardian era. The first,
Murder
on the Lusitania, came out in 1999. As
Keith Miles, he is the author of six crime
novels whose protagonist is a professional golfer. All the titles have a
contemporary setting, each book taking Saxon to a different country. The
latest,
Honolulu Play-off,
was published in 2004. Keith Miles is also the author of
Murder in Perspective and
Saint's Rest, two architectural
mysteries, set in America
in the 193Os and featuring Merlin Richards.
Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a
core contributor to Women's Weekly. She
also writes contemporary and historical crime and is currently looking for an
agent or publisher. An Adult Education
teacher, Carol has always maintained that writing and reading fiction is good
for people and has spent much of her career facilitating Creative Writing for
disabled people.
Published by Severn House, 
Jane Adams was born in Leicestershire, where she still lives.
She has a degree in Sociology, and has held a variety of jobs including lead
vocalist in a folk rock band. She enjoys pen and ink drawing, martial arts and
her ambition is to travel the length of the Silk Road
by motorbike. Her first book, The
Greenway, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Award in 1995 and for
the Author's Club Best First Novel Award. Jane writes several series. Her first series featured Mike Croft. Three
books featuring DS Ray Flowers. Seven titlesfeaturing blind Naoimi Blake, and
her latest series featuring Rina Martin. Cause of Death is the sixth in the
series. Jane has also written three standalone novels. She is married with two
children.
