Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Railway Detective | 2004 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 2 | The Excursion Train | 2005 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 3 | The Railway Viaduct | 2006 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 4 | The Iron Horse | 2007 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 5 | Murder on the Brighton Express | 2007 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 6 | The Silver Locomotive Mystery | 2009 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 7 | Railway to the Grave | 2010 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 8 | Blood on the Line | 2011 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 9 | The Stationmaster’s Farewell | 2012 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 10 | Peril on the Royal Train | 2013 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 11 | A Ticket to Oblivion | 2014 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 12 | Timetable of Death | 2015 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 13 | Signal for Vengeance | 2016 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 14 | The Circus Train Conspiracy | 2017 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 15 | A Christmas Railway Mystery | 2017 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 16 | Points of Danger | 2019 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 17 | Fear on the Phantom Special | 2019 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 18 | Slaughter in the Sapperton Tunnel | 2020 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 19 | Tragedy on the Branch Line | 2021 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 20 | The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case | 2022 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 21 | Death at the Terminus | 2023 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 22 | Murder in Transit | 2024 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 23 | Mystery at the Station Hotel | 2025 | Edward Marston | Buy |
| 24 | Murder on the Great Northern Railway | 2025 | Edward Marston | Buy |
The Inspector Robert Colbeck series, also called the Railway Detective series, is Edward Marston’s longest-running and most popular work. Set during the Victorian era, the books follow Inspector Colbeck as he investigates crimes connected to Britain’s expanding railway network. Train robberies, murders aboard express services, and sabotage of the tracks all feature across the series.
Colbeck works out of Scotland Yard alongside his loyal sergeant, Victor Leeming, who dislikes trains but follows his boss wherever the rails lead. The series started with The Railway Detective in 2004 and has grown to more than twenty books, with new entries still appearing. Marston uses the railways as both a setting and a plot engine, with the specific details of Victorian train travel, timetables, stations, and engineering, woven into every mystery.