Those who enjoy vintage crime and short stories are sure to enjoy this collection that has been edited by Martin Edwards. As is true of his other compilations, Edwards has chosen wisely and offers readers a variety of authors who have set their stories on trains.

Here are tales that are of the Locked Room genre in that most iconic of settings, a train making its way to a destination. There are some well-known authors here as, for example, Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers. There are other authors with whom I was not acquainted. Still, I know them better after traveling with them through this volume.

I would also like to comment on this book’s cover. The artwork is very appealing and immediately invites the reader to use their imagination and travel on trains fr0m years past.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This collection of short stories was such a delightful read I could hardly put it down. Some of the authors were names I recognized while most were completely new to me. There were only a couple of stories that didn't fully capture my attention. All of the stories have something to do with trains. A couple of them were spooky but all of them really exemplified the Golden Age of Mystery. Both male and female detectives are represented across the stories. Several of the stories have a "locked-room" feel to them. I just really enjoyed this collection and I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed this anthology edited by Martin Edwards: Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries. Some stories, of course, are better than others.. There are fifteen railway themed stories in the collection and an introduction on classic railway mysteries by Martin Edwards. He has also prefaced each story with a brief biographical note, which I found useful as some of the authors were new to me. I read the collection slowly over a few months, which I find is the best way to approach a short story collection.

Train travel provides several scenarios for a mystery – the restriction of space on trains, with or without a corridor, means that there are a limited number of suspects and they can also provide an ideal place for a ‘locked room’ crime or an ‘impossible crime’ story. This collection also includes a couple of crimes with a supernatural element.

The mysteries are presented in roughly chronological order from 1898 up to the 1950s. The ones I enjoyed the most are by R Austin Freeman, Roy Vickers, Dorothy L Sayers, F Tennyson Jesse and Freeman Crofts Willis.

This is another engaging collection of short stories from a variety of authors whose stories take place on or around trains. Martin Edwards has done another excellent job of finding stories from the Golden Age with a variety of styles and complexity. As usual, there are some from authors that are familiar and those from authors I'd never heard from. I enjoyed the Lord Peter Wimsey in particular, but there really wasn't a bad one in the lot. By far the best collection in the series for me.

Another collection of mystery stories curated and introduced by Martin Edwards. In this outing, they all relate in some way to Britain’s railway system or London’s Underground. Some of the authors were part of the Golden Age mentioned in other collections. I found well over half of the tales were very successful, even for a jaded modern reader like me who has been reading mysteries since childhood. A few initially seemed a bit dry with nothing special to offer, but the pace picked up and I found the quality and interest I’m used to.

Among my favorites were stories by Dorothy Sayers and Michael Innes. The stories with a surprise or irony or a special clever twist caught my attention since I have read so many over the years. And there were more than a few here.

Once again I recommend a mystery story collection from Martin Edwards and Poisoned Pen Press to all who enjoy mysteries and stories. This is a great series.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This collection of short stories edited by Martin Edwards focuses on crimes committed on trains, in train tunnels, and near train tracks. It is set up chronologically beginning with an Arthur Conan Doyle story not starring Sherlock Holmes. The stories are, as usual with an anthology, a mixed bag. Some are immediately forgotten; some are downright disappointing; some are outstanding.

The best story, in my opinion is by F. Tennyson Jesse, the author of a Pin to See the Peepshow. Three people are in a third class train compartment: a young woman, an old woman, and a nondescript man. They do not speak and the compartment is quiet until a few stations down a group of men join them. The conversation among the men is about a young man who was hanged that day. As the story progresses it becomes apparent that the passengers have more than a passing relationship with the executed man. The story has a shocking, bittersweet ending.

Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter is a passenger on a train when he offers an opinion on a murder that the other passengers are discussing, Other authors are Freeman Wills Crofts whose would-be murderer lives near train tracks and plans to murder his victim and leave the body on the tracks for the train to run over. Michael Gilbert has Petrella and his colleagues following suspected jewel thieves on London’s Underground. Michael Innes’s story is set on a movie set with a prop train.

This is a fun collection and recommended for golden age mystery fans and anyone who wants a bit of nostalgic entertainment.

After reading The Long Arm of the Law, I wanted to try another anthology in the British Library Crime Classics series. So this time around I picked Blood on the Tracks; a collection of Railway Mysteries put together by Martin Edwards, which as usual begins with Edward’s brilliant and informative introduction!

Blood on the Tracks features a good mix of crime writers, and some of them are completely new to me. So as you can expect the stories vary considerably in their quality too.

A couple of my personal stories in the collection are The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face by Dorothy L. Sayers, and The Affair of the Corridor Express by Victor L. Whitechurch. I also appreciated that Edwards had included Arthur Conan Doyle's The Man with the Watches which is seemingly a non-Sherlock Holmes story.

While there are other books in the series I liked more than Blood on the Tracks, I believe it is still a good anthology to pick up if you are into crime stories.

Thanks to Poison Pen Publishing and NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for a fair review.

This is a collection of short mystery stories that take place on trains or involve railroads. They were written during the golden age of mysteries the 1920s through the 40s. It includes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers and many others There was even a Sherlock Holmes tale, although not written by Doyle.

I found the collection uneven with some of the stories quite good and others, not so much. A number were quite clever and spooky. It seemed an usual choice by the editor, but I thought the weakest stories were the first few. Some ended a bit abruptly and could have used a few more pages to complete what had till that point been excellent stories.

I enjoyed the editor's short introductions to each story giving a little background on the authors, many of whom I was not familiar with. And being a bit of a railroad buff I enjoyed the period railroad details.

An excellent collection of classic British “cozy mysteries”. This is a book to keep and enjoy these stories again.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Great anthology of Vintage British cozies all having a train theme. I discovered some new favorite authors in this book. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

Another delightful collection of mystery short stories by British authors, all involving trans (including The Underground.

This group is more varied than many of the other collections because they cover a very wide range of styles. You'll find armchair detectives, paranormal mysteries, police procedurals, a Sherlock Holmes story (by Ronald Knox), and even a kidnapping.

I raced through this collection. It's my favorite of the short story collections so far.

Blood on the Tracks. Railway Mysteries. Edited by Martin Edwards. This is an exceptional anthology of some of both well-known and lesser-known mystery authors, all writing about the railroads. Dorothy Sayers, Michael Gilbert, John Innes, writing as Michael Innes, Ronald Knox, and Freeman Wills Crofts are just a few of the contributing writers. Released July 3. Rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

A super solid collection that, to me, has several standout entries and only one outright stinker (the useless Michael Innes' entry "Murder on the 7.16" which barely qualifies as a cohesive narrative much less a mystery that gives the reader ANY chance to solve it, but then I'm not an Innes/Appleby fan at all). We are treated to both the Underground and the British railway system, country and city, thriller and police/detective investigation - a little something for every type of fan of British crime stories. A very strong recommend!

Another excellent instalment in this series. I particularly enjoy the short story collections, and this one doesn't disappoint, with the railway settings giving a really strong flavour of the time and place. Excellent holiday reading, or maybe something to get stuck into on the daily commute!

ks
Browse ▾
Community ▾

Search books

50+
6
Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* Jones
Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* Jones's Reviews > Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries
Blood on the Tracks by Martin Edwards
Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries
by Martin Edwards (Goodreads Author) (Editor)
30817744
Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* Jones's review Jul 08, 2018 · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: 2018, netgalley-arc, 4-star, 5-star, detective-fiction, historical-fiction, murder-mystery, short-stories

EXCERPT: The guard marched up and down the platform looking into all the carriages to see if anyone had left a halfpenny evening paper behind for him, and opening the door of one of the first class compartments, he noticed a lady sitting in the further corner, with her head turned away towards the window, evidently oblivious of the fact that on this line Aldgate is the terminal station.

'Where are you for, lady?' he said.

The lady did not move, and the guard stepped into the carriage, thinking that perhaps the lady was asleep. He touched her arm lightly and looked into her face. In his own poetic language, he was 'struck all of a 'eap'. In the glassy eyes, the ashen colour of the cheeks, the rigidity of the head,there was the unmistakable look of death.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Blood on the Tracks celebrates the classic railway mystery. Trains and rail travel have long provided evocative settings for tales of murder and mayhem, and succeeding generations of crime writers have made ingenious use of them.

"Never had I been given a tougher problem to solve, and never had I been so utterly at my wits’ end for a solution.”

A signalman is found dead by a railway tunnel. A man identifies his wife as a victim of murder on the underground. Two passengers mysteriously disappear between stations, leaving behind a dead body.

Trains have been a favourite setting of many crime writers, providing the mobile equivalent of the “locked-room” scenario. Their enclosed carriages with a limited number of suspects lend themselves to seemingly impossible crimes. In an era of cancellations and delays, alibis reliant upon a timely train service no longer ring true, yet the railway detective has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the twenty-first century.

Both train buffs and crime fans will delight in this selection of fifteen railway-themed mysteries, featuring some of the most popular authors of their day alongside less familiar names. This is a collection to beguile even the most wearisome commute.

MY THOUGHTS: Although I wasn't on a 'wearisome commute', I was mostly beguiled by this collection. I have fond memories of, as a teenager, catching the railcar on a Friday night to the next town south to go stay with my friend Susan's grandmother for the weekend. We no longer have that option as trains no longer stop here. The train station and waiting room is now a trendy restaurant, the railway café a display of rugby memorabilia. The turntable is gone, ripped up to be relocated who knows where, or scrapped, and the engine sheds are falling down, the tracks fenced off to prevent people who no longer seem to have even a vestige of common sense from straying onto the tracks and being mowed down by one of the increasingly infrequent trains that still pass through our town.

Anyway, enough of my rant. Back to the purpose of this review - Blood on the Tracks, which is a beguiling collection of Golden Age detective fiction short stories, all set on or around the railway. This is a diverse and mostly entertaining collection showcasing the work of some very famous authors, and some whom I had never previously read and, as a result, I have some new authors to follow up on.

Definitely recommended if you are a railway enthusiast, enjoy Golden Age detective fiction, short stories or like a historical read. Even if you are none of these things, there is probably something in this collection that will please you.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Blood on the Tracks collated by Martin Edwards. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance reading eBook via Netgalley. The views expressed are my own.

Each story in this collection has a connection to the railway or to train travel. They are set in Britain in the early part of the 20th century when train travel was probably the most common mode of transport.

The anthology contains 15 short stories. The authors include such heavy weights as Arthur Conan Doyle ("The Man with the Watches") and Dorothy L. Sayers ("The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face"). Well known Golden Age of Murder authors Baroness Orczy ("The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway"), Freeman Wills Croft ("The Level Crossing") and R. Austin Freeman ("The Case of Oscar Brodski"). Several of the authors are new to me and Edwards' introductions at the beginning of each story are welcome to provide background to the author's life and writing.

My difficulty with reviewing an anthology such as this is the variety of the stories: different styles, plot devices and so on. Not every story will probably appeal to every reader . Martin Edwards, the editor of this anthology wrote in a recent blog that "...diversity of content is the hallmark of a great anthology." In this one, he has succeeded is putting together a good anthology. There are clever intricate plots galore which for me is the mark of a good short detective story. There is not a bad story in the collection, although of course some are more enjoyable than others. Some are more dated than others (mostly in the dialogue), but most stand the test of time.

It's a good collection of detective stories and is recommended reading for lovers of the Golden Age of Murder. It's also a good introduction to some lesser known Golden Age authors.

“I’ve no use for trains, if they’re not in a thriller—or for thrillers, if there isn’t a train.” - taken from the story Murder on the 7.16

If Agatha Christie taught us anything, it’s that’s a train is the perfect setting for a murder story. This book contains 15 short “thrillers” that all have something to do with trains. What’s not to love here? Some of my favorite stories in this anthology include:
Mystery of the Slip Coach - a locked room mystery with the only clues being a bullet and a raw egg
The Level Crossing - The intrigue in this story can best be summed up with its first two sentences: “In spite of himself Dunstan Thwaite shivered as he looked at the level crossing. For here was where he intended, this very night, to kill his enemy, John Dunn.”
The Case of Oscar Brodski - the longest story in the book that’s also an inverted mystery, where you know exactly who the murderer is and wait to see if the detective can figure it out.

I received a digital edition of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've always had a fascination with trains, among the standard settings across literary genres - it's a bucket list dream to travel across Europe on the Orient Express (though not during the winter, for obvious reasons). Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries is a touch misleading - while all the stories have a train or a train station at its setting, many of the stories do not include murder, and if they do do not detail much graphic violence, as many of the stories are penned by late 19th and early 20th century mystery writers (some more well known than others).

It's interesting to read about travel across vast distances, and detectives (policemen and private investigators alike) go about their investigations in the days before modern technology, and the skills to ascertain who (and how) it was done.

It's a fine short story to read while on the go. I read most of these stories on my daily commute on the NYC subway, momentarily transported back to a time where train travel was more elegant (though sometimes deadly).

Short stories are the perfect thing for a trip, as they don’t take up too much time, but if well-chosen give you a great read. So, the next time you hop on a train (or plane, or ship, or just get away from it all at home) grab a copy of 'Blood on the Tracks'. It’s a very appealing anthology of British mystery stories, all involving some form of train, though not all in motion. Editor Martin Edwards has given us 15 classic tales written between 1898 and 1955, some by very well-known British writers, others less so.

Edwards provides a thorough and fascinating Introduction to the genre, which covers its history, diversity, and popularity, as well as a bit about the development of the fictional railway detective, all supported by many examples, including a few of the authors in this collection. Also included are very good short introductions to each author and story.

The stories are varied, and all are quite entertaining, including several “locked room” mysteries, a few involving the occult or super-natural, many interesting characters and detectives, and tales presented from a variety of viewpoints. I was glad to see some by women authors and a few solved by women investigators.

A number of these authors were previously unknown to me, but I liked their entries enough that I will be looking for full-length mysteries by most of them. A train is indeed a marvelous background for mystery. All in all, this was a completely delightful group of classic mystery short stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Blood on the Tracks is a lovely collection of golden age mysteries connected with trains. Cozy, with great nostalgia.