The Lost Luggage Porter
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
'A cracking good thriller.' Independent on Sunday
'Unerringly sharp and pioneeringly original, it locks the reader in from start to finish.' Andrew Barrow, Spectator
Winter, 1906. It's Jim Stringer's first day as an official railway detective, but he's not a happy man.
As the rain falls incessantly on the city's ancient streets, the local paper carries a story highly unusual by York standards: two brothers have been shot to death.
Soon Jim enters the orbit of a dangerous, disturbed villain - and discovers that the two murders are barely the start of his plans . . .
'The atmosphere of neglected streets... dingy saloon bars, suppers of boiled bacon and pickles, and dismal, unceasing rain are splendidly evoked ... if you're fond of a stroll through Edwardian working-class life and the innards of steam engines, these might seem to be transports of delight.' Telegraph
Praise for the Jim Stringer series:
'Breathe in the heady mixture of smoke, oil and steam - and the odd spot of real ale - and feel the crunch of cinders beneath your feet... you're in historic railway territory again.' Manchester Evening News
'Finely honed crime novels with plotting as precise as a Swiss watch.' Daily Express
'This series is, er, really building up a head of steam.' Observer
Readers love Jim Stringer, railway detective:
'It's hard to envisage anyone not warming to Jim Stringer.' Independent
'An unlikely sleuth - ingenuous, naive and a little anxious - but an endearing narrator, a solid bloke who'd be good company over a pint of stout down the pub.' Telegraph
'The best sleuth that 200 years of the railways have ever produced.' Independent on Sunday
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Martin's riveting third Jim Stringer mystery (after 2007's The Blackpool Highflyer) finds Jim newly made detective for the North Eastern Railway at York station in 1906. His first day starts ominously when a hotel porter's throat is cut and Stringer's prized copies of Railways Magazine go missing. The latter mishap takes him to the lost luggage office, where gospel-quoting porter Edwin Lund tells Stringer about a pickpocket ring working the railways. After two brothers are found shot in the rail yard, Stringer goes undercover as hapless Allan Appleby, joining two men Lund calls Brains and Blocker in lifting wallets while preparing for "the big one." Stringer's suffragist wife remains home awaiting childbirth, and Stringer, dreading the financial needs of parenthood, finds himself thinking about keeping some of "Allan's" ill-gotten gains. Plenty of action, plot twists and moral quandaries help this engaging mystery pick up steam.
