Andrew Martin - The Necropolis Railway

[dem bones]

Andrew Martin - The Necropolis Railway (Faber, 2006)

Cover design by Two Associates Cover images : National Railway Museum/Science and Society Picture Library; C Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis; copyright Michael Nicholson/Corbis

Blurb:

"A brilliant murder mystery set in Edwardian London about a railway line that runs only to a massive cemetery." - Daily Mirror

When railwayman Jim Stringer moves to the garish and tawdry London of 1903, he finds his duties are confined to a mysterious graveyard line. The men he works alongside have formed an instant loathing for him — and his predecessor has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Can Jim work out what is going on before he too is travelling on a one-way coffin ticket aboard the Necropolis Railway?

"Guaranteed to make the flesh creep and the skin crawl, a masterful novel about a mad, clanking, fog-bound world." - Simon Winchester

"A murderous conspiracy of a plot graced with style, wit and the sharp, true taste of a time gone by ... So beautifully nuanced and so effortlessly pleasurable to read that you almost want to keep it a personal secret." - Independent on Sunday

Review of sorts possibly to follow when i'm in better shape, but a passing mention for this little gem which, obviously, i picked up purely on the strength of the cover, and sped through in two lengthy sittings. As the reviews suggest, it's a murder mystery but there's enough morbidity, ghastly deaths, body-snatching antics and a neat burial alive to appeal to our ghoulish instincts. There's also something very Ripping Yarns about it (coincidentally, I just burned through that, too) with the reluctant detective a naive nineteen year old from the Yorkshire wilds let loose on an unforgiving London for the first time. It seems his adventures continue over at least another book so that's gone straight to wants list.

[Johnlprobert]

I found this very dull, so I'll be interested to hear what yu have to say, Dem. And I've just been going through the Ripping Yarns DVD & I love it!

[PeterC]

Yes, I too found this book very disappointing.

[dem bones]

What's this? "dull"? "very disappointing"? Who would dare! You're doubtless both right, and it is a bit slow to get going, but I really loved the choking, noisy atmosphere of Waterloo in 1903, the scary proto-bootboys hanging around in the shadows and most particularly, the character Saturday Night Mack: a drunken, incredibly streetwise worker at the Necropolis who is unwisely trusted with the coffins (and their occupants, many of whom are buried in their expensive jewellery .....). Also, the strange romance between our medium paced hero, Jim Stringer, and the woman he always refers to as "my landlady" even after they've become an item. Jim's fanatical obsession with back issues of his Bible, The Railway Magazine - a subject on which he can be, as his landlady/ lover assures him - incredibly boring struck a chord. Some neat pub action too in The Red Lion, The Citadel and even less salubrious joints.

[benedictjjones]

the setting was great and well realised but the story was absoloute rubbish! my mum has 'murder at deviation junction' or some such which i might read but this one actually put me off reading the rest. the end of the story was absoloute tripe - i really was quite suprised at how poor the story and ending were considering how much i enjoyed the rest of the book.

[valdemar]

I read this too, and was disappointed by the ending - but I don't think that's the point. The atmosphere was fantastic; you could taste the crap in the air, hear the flies on that occasional dead horse, and smell the great unwashed. And it introduced me to the far weirder world of yer actual Necropolis Railway. The late, great Fred Dibnah's saying: "Half a day out with the undertaker", has never seemed so apposite.

I read this and followed it with 'The Winter Queen', by Boris Akunin, which was a far better read, but nowhere near as atmospheric.

[Shrink Proof]

This is the first of a series of books featuring Jim Stringer ("steam detective"??). He starts as a loco fireman but has to switch to railway policeman - in those days every railway company of any size had its own police force. As the companies gradually merged until nationalisation, so did the police forces, which is why we now have the British Transport Police, the force for tracks, stations and the like.

But I digress. The books seem to get weaker and weaker as the series progresses, and, to be honest, previous posters are right when they say that the first one wasn't incredible to start with. I gave up after "Last Train to Scarborough", and only read that because I live there. Later I saw the stage production of it, appropriately enough at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre. It was much better than the book, partly because of the visuals and special effects, courtesy of the National Railway Museum in York. Probably worth seeing if it ever comes your way.

[Michael Connolly]

A couple of years ago I tried to read one of Andrew Martin's Steam Detective novels. It was so dull that I gave up after about thirty pages.

If you're looking for something on the same lines I would recommend the Sergeant Cribb novels by Peter Lovesey. Set in the late Victorian period, they are briskly written and funny murder mysteries. While there is nothing in it horrific as such, I would recommend A Case of Spirits (1975).  It involves the Victorian craze for seances and fake (aren't they all?) spiritualists.  The eight Cribb books have been widely reprinted so are easy to find. 

[andydecker]

I tried two novels of the series as the themes were absolutly original. The first one and the WWI one. Thought the mysteries a bit underwhelming. But the railway stuff was fascinating.