In Murder at Deviation Junction by Andrew Martin the main character, Jim Stringer, is a detective with the North East Railway Police based at York station. This is one of a series of book featuring this character. The books take place during the Victorian era where there were a lot more trains running than there are now and to many more stations than currently exist. The detectives in the railway police forces existed to chase fare dodgers and thieves but in this case Stringer is present when a body is found on railway land and he has to try and find out what has happened.
The way that the investigation is conducted means that Stringer takes a lot of trains and so the book travels to the North East, to Scotland and down to London. It is winter and there is significant snow falling which adds to the problems of pursuing the murderer.
Stringer has a range of other problems including a dissatisfied wife, a possible promotion, colleagues that don’t like him a lot, a bullying boss and having to fight corruption as well as criminality. If he loses his job he faces poverty but he also feels the need to conduct his investigations properly. He works alone and finds few allies as many people are not quite what they seem. The story is written with an ongoing sense of menace and you aren’t sure if Stringer is going to survive the investigation.
This book is well written. The author obviously knows their railways and also the towns and cities that he writes about. There is the ring of authenticity about the places and events he describes. There is also a real affection for the railways as they were and for the vast amount of people that they employed at that time.
I have to admit, however, that I found the book hard going at times. Stringer is not the most likeable of characters – in fact there are few likeable people in the whole book. He has no companion or partner so it always seems that everyone is out to get him and that his career and even his life is in danger – he is not mistaken about this as he is betrayed on more than one occasion. I think that I needed a character with whom I could identify in order to draw me into the story, which is my issue rather than that of the writer.
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