The Blackpool highflyer - Andrew Martin

A superbly atmospheric thriller of sabotage, suspicion and steam, The Blackpool Highflyer brings a new twist to tales of Edwardian England, steam railways and amateur sleuthing.When railwayman Jim Stringer is assigned to drive holidaymakers to the seaside resort of Blackpool in the hot summer of 1905, he thinks he's struck lucky. But his dreams of beer and pretty women are soon destroyed - when his high-speed train meets a huge millstone on the line.Who wanted to derail the packed train? And did they want to kill everyone on board, or just one passenger? Desperately seeking the saboteur, Jim is drawn into the fringes of Blackpool Central, Europe's busiest station. He discovers a murky world of dandies, fraudsters and ventriloquists, shifty revolutionaries and textile magnates. In the summer heat, dazed by the sun and by the roaring fire he stokes, Jim begins to understand that the more he investigates, the longer his list of suspects will become . . .Laced with dark wit, The Blackpool Highflyer is Andrew Martin at his best - at once deliciously old-fashioned, and strikingly modern.