Synopses & Reviews
A compelling thriller . . . A stunning achievement.”
Daily Mail (London)
A clear winner in literary crime writing.” Daily Express (London)
From the author of The Necropolis Railway comes another atmospheric thriller of sabotage, suspicion, and steam. Assigned to drive vacationers to the seaside resort of Blackpool in the hot summer of 1905, Jim Stringer is happy to leave behind the grime and danger of London life. But his dreams of beer and sun are dashed when someone attempts to derail his high-speed train. Soon Jim and his brilliant wife are after the saboteur, learning all too late that a dark secret waits for them at the end of the line.
PRAISE FOR ANDREW MARTIN
Andrew Martin succeeds brilliantly at re-creating a railwayman's lot in London in [the early 1900s]." --The Seattle Times
Martin does a stunning job of bringing to life the era when steam locomotives chugged from London through the British countryside.”Booklist
ANDREW MARTIN was a Spectator (London) Young Writer of the Year and is the author of The Necropolis Railway, the first novel featuring Jim Stringer. He lives in London.
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"Readers will be captivated." Publishers Weekly
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"Brisk and atmospheric."
Review
UK PRAISE FOR THE BLACKPOOL HIGHFLYER"A steamy whodunnit . . . This may well be the best fiction about the railways since Dickens."INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY"An irresistible excursion into a bygone world." THE SUNDAY TIMES
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"The historical research is so good and the atmosphere of England in 1905 so well captured you would think that the author had lived there. A simply marvelous read."
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"Brisk and atmospheric."
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"Readers will be captivated." --M.C. Beaton
Synopsis
It is the summer of 1905 and Jim Stringer is copiloting a special train filled with overheated excursionists headed to Blackpool, the seaside resort on the English coast. At the moment when the train picks up speed, a huge rock comes into view farther down the tracks; it lies directly in their path. Full stop of the engine; full steam ahead with the mystery.As he did in The Necropolis Railway, Stringer doffs his railway hat and dons his detectives derby, assisted once more by "the wife" and her brilliant detecting skills. Capturing the world of railway stations and locomotives during the Edwardian Age, The Blackpool Highflyer carries readers to a place where dark shadows lurk behind innocence and the solution to the mystery waits at the end of the line.
About the Author
ANDREW MARTIN is the author of The Necropolis Railway. He has written for the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, and Granta, among many other British publications, and has a weekly column in the New Statesman. He learned to drive steam locomotives, albeit under very close supervision, and lives in London.