Just Finished Reading: The Blackpool Highflyer by Andrew Martin (FP: 2004) [336pp] 

Halifax, Yorkshire 1905. After his adventures in London, young Jim Stringer is back on his home turf. Well on his way to achieving his aim of becoming an engine driver and with a new wife to support, life is at last moving in the right direction. He is soon reminded however of the duties and responsibilities of his coveted position when his engine narrowly avoids being derailed due to an object left deliberately on the track. Feeling responsible for the passenger's safety he starts a private investigation into who was responsible. The list, however, is far from a short one. Did the wreckers target his train specifically because of a passenger on it? Was it at attack on the Mill who organised the excursion or an attack on excursions themselves? Was it personal, political or financial? It was enough to make anyone’s head spin with the possibilities. In the hot summer of 1905 with Special trains running to the resorts and beyond Jim had his work cut out for him to figure out exactly where the danger was coming from. What made things worse, and more urgent if such a thing was possible, was that his wife, recently confirmed to be pregnant, was scheduled to be aboard the Blackpool Highflyer – so recently attacked – and Jim himself was due to man the footplate... 

This is my 2nd Jim Stringer ‘Steam Detective’ novel and although I enjoyed it, I did also find it rather frustrating. The issue I had, unlike with the other rail detective series, is that Jim doesn’t have an official (or actually unofficial) position on the railways so is essentially reduced to asking people questions and musing on the results. Jim is also both young and still quite naive so doesn’t yet possess the skill set he needs to progress his enquiries in anything like a logical manner. The fumbles and struggles his way to something like a conclusion – and sometimes not. It took me a while – actually a few days or so after finishing this novel – to realise what my problem was. It’s that I was expecting an historical detective novel, and this isn’t it. What we have here is an historical novel based on the Edwardian railways. Within that novel, mostly about the time and place in which it takes place, is a scattering of crimes (often petty) and mysteries (sometimes unresolved). These are actually secondary to the story itself rather than driving the narrative. Looked at in this fashion I’m going to be a lot less frustrated in future outings with Jim and his trains. 

Overall, I can say I enjoyed this although I did honestly find a quite long diversion into Edwardian vaudeville shows somewhat tedious. This was made up for by insights into the sometimes fractious political situation in England and across Europe at the time as well as an insight into the lives of the Northern working class. Reasonable.