Edward Marston - Free Library Land Online - Reference

Under Siege

Sun, 15 May 2011 13:50:49 +0300

In the wake of victory at Oudenarde, career soldier Captain Daniel Rawson must take a leading role in the Allies' new strategy - to invade further into French territories and lay siege to Lille, the 'pearl of its fortresses'.

He fights alongside the Duke of Marlborough, whose position and safety abroad are threatened by politicians in England plotting his downfall - and by his outspoken and treasonous wife, Sarah.

Meanwhile, Captain Rawson must contend with a new rival for his beloved, the beautiful Amalia Janssen, rescue his comrade-in-arms, Henry Welbeck, and avoid capture by ruthless French soldiers.

Murder on the Minnesota

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:01:30 +0300

A maritime mystery from Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective series.
New York, 1908. Private detectives George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield plan to take a break from work upon the Cunard Line's fleet with the offer of employment upon the Minnesota, a freighter and passenger vessel, which is bound for the Far East.
Although the pair are investigating the possibility of a smuggling operation on the route, at first all appears to be smooth sailing, but the voyage takes a dire turn when a fiery Catholic missionary is murdered and it proves to be the first in a series of crimes that plague the crossing.
Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series sets sail for a new generation of readers.

Tragedy on the Branch Line

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 20:15:36 +0300

When Robert Pomeroy, a young undergraduate at Corpus Christi College, finds a letter slipped under his door in the early hours of a rainy day, he flies into a panic. Hastily readying himself and dashing off a few lines for the porter to summon his friend Nicholas Thorpe, he hurries to the railway station. But he doesn't reach his destination alive.

Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are called upon to investigate this tragedy on the railway. It soon becomes apparent that Cambridge's hopes of success in the forthcoming Boat Race rested on Pomeroy's shoulders. With academic disputes, romantic interests and a sporting rivalry with Oxford in play, the Railway Detective will have his work cut out to disentangle the threads of Pomeroy's life in order to answer the truth of his death.

Redmayne 03 - The Repentant Rake

Tue, 15 May 2001 13:50:47 +0300

Divided by politics but united in a desire to see justice done, Christopher Redmayne and Jonathan Bale join together once more. But how can they hope to find those who exploit the scandal of others, when the victims themselves will do anything to maintain their anonymity? And what of Sir Julius' son? Most feel he must have been the victim of his own, debauched appetites, but a few talk of his repentance. So where is the repentant rake? And, with only lies, rumors and gossip to work with, even Redmayne and Bale despair of finding him.

Review

All the swashbuckling thrills and romantic swagger of blood-and-thunder tragedies. --New York Times Review

About the Author

EDWARD MARSTON was born and brought up in South Wales. A full-time writer for over thirty years, he has worked in radio, film, television and the theatre. Prolific and highly successful, he is equally at home writing children's books or literary criticism, plays or biographies and the settings for his crime novels range from the world of professional golf to the compilation of the Domesday Survey. He is also a former Chairman of the Crime Writers Association.

The Railway Detective's Christmas Case

Sun, 13 Nov 2022 22:55:37 +0200

Rage of the Assassin

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:46:49 +0300

London, 1817. An impatient crowd is gathered outside the stage door of the Covent Garden Theatre, desperate for a glimpse of actress Hannah Granville after her latest performance as Lady Macbeth, amongst them the Prince Regent himself. But before she can appear a gunshot sounds, and a man lies dead on the ground amidst the ensuing chaos.

Sir Roger Mellanby MP had been a spearhead for social reform, although his political leanings had made him many enemies within the Westminster elite and even in his own family. But was he really the intended target of the shooting? After a curt dismissal from the Bow Street Runners, Mellanby's friend Seth Hooper engages the services of twin detectives Paul and Peter Skillen to investigate the killing.

Elsewhere, the assassin's own problems are just beginning...

Nicholas Bracewell 03 - The Trip to Jerusalem

Tue, 30 May 1989 09:46:43 +0400

London is under siege by the Black Plague, closing its theaters and losing its frightened citizens to the countryside. Lord Westfield’s Men decide upon the relative safety of the road and a tour of the North. Before they can pack up and depart, one player in the troupe is murdered.

As they travel, the company of players managed by its bookholder, Nicholas Bracewell, learns that their arch-rivals, Banbury’s Men, have been pirating their best works. Hoping to shake off Banbury’s Men, actor Lawrence Firethorn eventually leads his troupe to York where all is revealed in a thrilling performance.

Originally published in the U.S. in 1990 by St. Martin’s Press, The Trip to Jerusalem is the third Nicholas Bracewell Elizabethan mystery following The Queen’s Head and The Merry Devils. The most recent Bracewell from St. Martin’s Press is The Wanton Angel (0-312-24116-X)

Nicholas Bracewell 01 - The Queen's Head

Sat, 30 May 1987 09:46:36 +0400

1587, and Mary, Queen of Scots, dies by the executioner’s axe; her head, shorn of its auburn wig, rolling across the platform. Will her death end the ceaseless plotting against Mary’s red-haired cousin, Elizabeth?

1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, is a time of more terror and triumph, not just for queen and court but for the whole of England. The turmoil is reflected in its theatres and under the galleries of inns like London’s “The Queen’s Head” where Lord Westfield’s Men perform. The scene there grows even more tumultuous when one of the actors is murdered by a mysterious stranger during a brawl.

Nicholas Bracewell, the company’s bookholder (a role far wider than mere producer) faces two immediate repercussions. The first is to secure a replacement acceptable to its temperamental star and chief shareholder Lawrence Firethorn. The second is to keep his promise to the dying Will Fowler and catch his killer.

Soon further robberies, accidents, and misfortunes strike Lord Westfield’s Men even as their stage successes swell. Bracewell begins to suspect a conspiracy, not a single murderous act, but where lies the proof? Then the players are rewarded with the ultimate accolade an appearance at court and the canny bookholder senses the end to the drama is at hand…

First published to great acclaim in 1988, The Queen’s Head anticipated the lure of bawdy, boisterous, yet elegant epics like Shakespeare in Love. Actor and playwright Marston has followed with, to date, ten more lusty, historically grounded, theatrically sound Bracewell mysteries that explore the face of England and reveal his deep love for its rich literary and dramatic heritage. The Roaring Boy was nominated for a 1996 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

The Dragons of Archenfield

Sun, 21 May 1995 12:56:48 +0300

DOMESDAY IS COMINGIn 1086, England's mighty king, William the Conqueror, sends out surveyors and census takers to record the resources of his land and its people. Some welcome these inquisitive royal agents and their day of judgment. Others hate them. But wherever the king's men go they bring excitement; *and sometimes murder. . . .

Calamity smolders on the Welsh-English frontier, where three powerful men squabble over the same rich tract of land. When King William's clever agents; soldier Ralph Delchard and lawyer Gervase Bret; arrive to settle the dispute, one of the claimants has been brutally burned alive, and the king's men are saddled with a formidable murder investigation. Before the frightful truth shines clear, everyone will be scorched by the flames of violence. . . .

"Marston is a marvel at re-creating the atmosphere of the times while constructing a fascinating murder case".

; *Anniston Star

"[An] outstanding medieval mystery brimming with intrigue, suspense, and authentic historical detail".

; *Booklist

Fear on the Phantom Special

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 15:01:05 +0200

Halloween, 1861. A special train with two carriages steams across the Lake District at night on its way to a place notorious for its record of supernatural incidents. Most of those on board have been fortified by alcohol so the mood is boisterous. Without warning the lamp goes out in the last compartment of the second carriage, plunging it into darkness. When the train reaches the end of the line, the passengers pour out on to the station platform. There are almost sixty of them in all, laughing and jostling, but the prevailing excitement is shattered by a cry for help – someone is missing.Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are called in to investigate this peculiar occurrence. With some believing the missing man is the victim of a ghost said to haunt the site and no discernible trace of the man anywhere to be seen, this will prove to be a puzzling case indeed for the Railway Detective.

Murder on the Caronia

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:01:32 +0300

A maritime mystery from Edward Marston, author of the bestselling Railway Detective series.
New York, 1908. While waiting to embark on the Caronia, the Cunard Line's famous ocean liner, private detectives George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield are startled to witness the boarding of a man and woman in shackles. They discover that these prisoners are being brought back to England by Scotland Yard to face trial for murder.
Over the course of the crossing, while managing purse-snatchers, burglars, card sharps and drug traffickers, Dillman and Masefield come to believe that the captured couple may not be the vicious criminals some consider them. But pursuing the hunch that they are innocent becomes harder when a murderer strikes on board. Dillman and Masefield will need all their wits to navigate the waters ahead.
Previously published under the name Conrad Allen, the Ocean Liner series sets sail for a new generation of readers.

Nicholas Bracewell 08 - The Laughing Hangman

Wed, 14 Jun 1995 15:01:36 +0300

Jonas Applegarth is a brilliant but belligerent playwright. When his play, The Misfortunes of Marriage, is performed by Lord Westfield's Men, it causes an uproar. All of Applegarth's enemies attack the company. Nicholas Bracewell defends the playwright loyally, but alas, Applegarth is soon found hanged by the neck. It is only the first of many mysteries that Nicholas has to solve. Lord Westfield's Men are furious when they are satirized by a rival children's theater company at the Blackfriars playhouse. A second attack by the killer-laughing hangman-throws the actors in further disarray. Nicholas is under enormous pressure, not least because he is trying to rekindle his romance with Anne Hendrik by helping her to fend off an aggressive suitor. His beloved company is under threat as never before, and he has to call on all of his resources to rescue them. "Marston's wit and vivid evocation of Elizabethan London's sights and smells provide a delightfully ribald backdrop for this clever series." -Publishers Weekly "A delightfully dazzling period piece suffused with humor, wit and atmospheric drama." -Booklist Edward Marston, under his real name, Keith Miles, was raised in Wales and went on to study modern history at Oxford. He has been a university lecturer, radio, television, and theatre dramatist, and in addition to writing has worked as an actor and director. His Elizabethan novel, The Roaring Boy, was a 1996 Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee for best novel. He lives in Kent.

Wolves of Savernake

Sun, 16 May 1993 00:30:14 +0300

"An artful and evocative adventure steeped in local humor, lore, and legend of eleventh-century England."
--Booklist
DOMESDAY IS COMING
In 1086 England's mighty king, William the Conqueror, sends out surveyors and census takers to record the resources of his land and its people. Some welcome these inquisitive royal agents and their "day of judgment." Others hate them. But wherever the king's men go they bring excitement, and sometimes murder....
In ancient Bedwyn town, the king's Domesday researchers are suddenly faced with the violent death of the very man whose claims have drawn them there--a wealthy miller, savaged by a wolf in Savernake Forest.
Now two clever king's men, soldier Ralph Delchard and lawyer Gervase Bret, must investigate not only questionable land claims but the miller's death as well. Have well-fed monks of Bedwyn Abbey somehow contrived the man's demise? Has his soft-eyed wife betrayed him? Is the dreaded Savernake wolf the familiar of the town witch, or is it the hound of heaven? No one knows except a dead man....
"A story that invites comparison to the crystalline novels of Ellis Peters."
--Kirkus Reviews

Slaughter in the Sapperton Tunnel

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 15:01:29 +0300

'A master storyteller' Daily Mail

A goods train speeds through the Sapperton Tunnel, but disaster strikes before it can reach the other side as it collides with an unusual blockage on the tracks: seven sheep penned in place. Specially requested to investigate the carnage in Gloucestershire, Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are confronted with a bizarre case unlike anything they've encountered before.

Stephen Rydall, board member of the Great Western Railway that manages the route, is convinced this tragedy is a personal attack on him and fears for the safety of his shepherd, missing since the incident. Rydall has many enemies: a churlish squire, a scheming principal and a local ruffian who always manages to evade the law. But, as Colbeck will soon discover, the man also has a closely guarded secret of his own...