THE SILVER LOCOMOTIVE MYSTERY by EDWARD MARSTON.BACK COVER BLURB: 1854. As the Cardiff-bound train puffs out of Paddington Station, young Hugh Kellow wraps a protective arm around his large valise. He has been entrusted with a priceless silver coffee pot, designed in the shape of a locomotive, by his elderly silversmith employer. But two of Hugh's fellow passengers are taking an enormous interest in the young man and his priceless cargo.
When a dead body is discovered in a room at the Cardiff Railway Hotel, beside an empty valise, the great Railway Detective Robert Colbeck and his trusty sergeant Victor Leeming are called in to investigate; and face a whole host of unexpected problems.
FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter One}: 1855
Nigel Buckmaster knew how to make an entrance.
MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 17}: 'It's that silver pot', she confessed, a palm to her breast. 'It's stolen my heart, Nigel - I'd kill to own it.'
SOURCE: Given to me by a friend.
MY THOUGHTS: An OK read. A self contained story in so much as each of the books deals with a separate case though as with all series that you haven't followed from the beginning/have read out of sequence you run the risk of missing out on the history between the characters.
Though the sixth book in the series, the first I have read. How much impact this had on my enjoyment is debatable as I felt the author back-tracked just enough in that if nothing else I could at least hazard a guess as to previous events and the relationships between the characters.
An easily identified felon, characters with wonderful names, a hint of romance - in other words arguably a standard cosy mystery.
Better by far than the predictable plot, the characters who I found wooden or indeed the dialogue which I thought somewhat stilted, whilst oddly sanitised at times and with the tendency to over-describe, leaving little to the reader's imagination, it was the never-the-less overall good attention to period detail that made this book for me.
5 comments:
I enjoy a good cozy mystery and have several series I read. From your observations, I don't feel the urge to backtrack and start this series.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. The wooden characters and sanitized plot would bother me more than anything else. Not sure this one is for me, but I do like that it had good attention to period detail!
As always, I appreciate your well-written and balanced review. Excellent job, Tracy! I'm glad the attention to period detail in this book is noteworthy.
I hope you and your readers will stop by my blog to "check out" the new giveaways I've added to my blog's sidebar. :)
It is too bad that the book was a little predictable. I think that the setting and the plot of this one make it sound interesting.
I think that wooden characters would get in the way of enjoying the book for me.
Something about a locomotive and a silver coffee pot that seal the deal for me. I love the sound of this setting and look forward to reading this cozy mystery.
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