BlackHat Mystery BookstoreAndrew Martin
 | short profile |
Mystery author Andrew Martin has so far written nine mystery novels about Jim Stringer,
a former railway engine driver who gets promoted to the dangerous job of railroad policeman,
set in Edwardian {1903-09} and post-Edwardian {1909-1923} Britain and other locations.
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Andrew Martin official website
Andrew Martin entry at Wikipedia
browse Andrew Martin books at Amazon
publisher's Andrew Martin homepage
railway cop Jim Stringer Mystery Novels
official Jim Stringer Novels website
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"The Necropolis Railway: A Novel of Murder, Mystery & Steam" [#1 = 2002]
 | Set in 1903; a chance encounter leads young railway porter Jim Stringer to a better job out of Waterloo Station in London. But his assignment is the strange branch of the London & South Western that serves an enormous cemetery, his fellow employees are hostile, and his predecessor disappeared mysteriously.
Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [4/2009] for $1.99 {sic} Mariner Books 8x5¼ pb [1/2007] for $15.26 Faber & Faber 7½x5 pb [7/2003] out of print/many used |
"The Blackpool Highflyer: A Jim Stringer Mystery" [#2 = 2005]
 | Set in 1905 on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway; Jim is working as a stoker in the loco-motive when a huge grindstone on the tracks derails the train and kills a woman; he learns that a similar derailment happened on the same day, which is followed by blockage by a felled tree and the disappearance of a locomotive driver.
Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [4/2009] for $8.19 Mariner Books pb [7/2007] for $17.06 Faber & Faber 7¾x4¾ pb [9/2005] out of print/80+ used |
"The Lost Luggage Porter" [#3 = 2006]
 | Set in 1906; on the first day of Jim Stringer's new job as an official railway detective, York police discover the bodies of two brothers who were shot to death . . . Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [4/2009] for $5.61 Faber & Faber Crime 7¾x5 pb [5/2007] out of print/90+ used Faber & Faber Crime 9x6 pb [5/2006] out of print/many used |
"Murder At Deviation Junction" [#4 = 2008]
 | Set in 1909, with Jim Stringer a detective on the North Eastern Railway Police. Riding home to York with his family for the holidays, Jim's train is stopped at a remote station by a snowstorm, where the workmen discover the body of a photographer who may have hanged himself. Or maybe not, since the exposed film from the man's camera is missing.
no Kindle edition on Amazon (8/2013) Mariner Books 7¾x5¼ pb [1/2009] for $12.56 Faber & Faber Crime 7¾x5 pb [4/2008] out of print/50+ used |
"Death On A Branch Line" [#5 = 2008]
 | The sweltering Summer of 1911; a prisoner tells Jim that the man's brother will be murdered unless someone can stop it. Hoping for promotion to sergeant, Jim takes his wife along on the pretext of a holiday and discovers an international conspiracy.
Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [4/2009] for $5.61 Faber & Faber Crime 7¾x5 pb [4/2009] out of print/many used Faber & Faber 9¼x6 pb [6/2008] out of print/used |
"The Last Train To Scarborough" [#6 = 2009]
 | Set in 1914; a railway employee disappears from a guest house on the northeast coast of England. Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [3/2009] for $5.61 Faber & Faber Crime 7¾x5 pb [4/2010] out of print/many, many used Faber & Faber 8½x5½ hardcover [3/2009] out of print/used |
"The Somme Stations" [#7 = 2011]
 | Book won the Ellis Peters Award for 2011; before enlisted railwayman Jim Stringer's unit leaves for France, one of the company is murdered. Arriving on the first day for the weeks-long Battle of the Somme {July-September 1916}, Jim and his fellows operate the critical munitions delivery trains at night and duck bullets by day. Clues pile up that there is a traitor in the outfit, and the blundering Army policeman investigating the murder starts to suspect Jim.
Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Fiction [3/2011] for $8.19 Faber & Faber 8x5½ pb [2/2012] out of print/many used Faber & Faber 9½x6½ hardcover [3/2011] out of print/many, many used |
"The Baghdad Railway Club" [#8 = 2012]
 | In 1917, promoted to Captain and invalided from the Western Front, Jim is dispatched to Baghdad where he finds the city a powder-keg ready to explode, his cover compromised, and his only contact lying dead in the sand.
Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [6/2012] for $8.19 Faber & Faber Crime 7¾x5 pb [2/2013] out of print/used Faber & Faber Crime 9½x6 hardcover [6/2012] out of print/used |
"Night Train To Jamalpur" [#9 = Nov 2013] 
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Set in 1923 northeast India; Jim is 'seconded' to the East Indian Railway, expecting a vacation; but the railroad has enemies: the man in the compartment next to Jim is killed (mistaken identity?), and someone is putting venomous snakes aboard the first-class railcars.
Kindle Edition from Faber & Faber Crime [DUE Nov 2013] pre-order for $9.99 Faber & Faber Crime hardcover [DUE Nov 2013] pre-order for $18.94 |
Other Works of Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin's credits [since 2000] at Internet Movie Database
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"Bilton" [first novel] a satire on lifestyle journalism set in the near future
"The Bobby Dazzlers" [second novel] a crime novel set in contemporary York
"Funny You Should Say That" [Penguin] as editor, a dictionary of humorous quotations
"How To Get Things Really Flat: A Man’s Guide to Ironing, Dusting and Other Household Arts" [Short Books 2008]
"Between the Lines: Railways In Fiction and Film" [Oct 2008]
TV episode of "Time Shift" [BBC-TV 2002-2013]
 | Hour-long examination of literary attitudes about railways and locomotives, from fear in the 1850s to admiration in the late 1800s and thru both World Wars, to final decline in the 1950s. Co-produced & directed by Sebastian Barfield; written & hosted by Andrew Martin; featuring editor Peter Ashley, author Ian Jack & historian Christian Wolmar
DVD/Blu-ray not available • full credits at IMDb • official BBC-TV movie site |
"Ghoul Britannia" [Short Books 2009] about British ghosts in fiction and 'fact'
"Underground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube" [Profile Books May 2012]
"Flight By Elephant: The Untold Story of World's War 2's Most Daring Jungle Rescue" [Fourth Estate June 2013]
the wartime adventures of Gyles Mackrell, tea planter and elephant expert
"Modern Marvels" TV series
2000 episode "The History of The London Underground" /tt0874126/
"Great Continental Railway Journeys" TV series []
2011 episode "Waterloo to Canary Wharf" /tt1816191/
2012 episode "London to Monte Carlo" /tt2513694/
Works About Andrew Martin
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L i n k s
Andrew Martin official website
official Jim Stringer Novels website
Andrew Martin entry at Wikipedia
browse all Andrew Martin books at Amazon
Andrew Martin's credits [since 2000] at Internet Movie Database
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