Friday, October 25, 2019

The Body on the Train

It's not every day a body is found in a train car of rhubarb. In The Body on the Train by Frances Brody, Kate Shackleton is asked by Scotland Yard to use her local Yorkshire knowledge to identify the dead man. (The Body on the Train will be released by Crooked Lane Books on November 12.)

All means of identification have been stripped from the man as he has been found only wearing his underclothes. Someone went to great lengths to keep his identify unknown, and Scotland Yard thinks Kate can discover his identity.


It's 1929 and there is increasing unrest in Yorkshire in the coalfields, especially after a lengthy strike by coal miners and railway workers. Conflicting interests of coalfields and agriculture seem to be leading in the direction of more unrest. 

In the sack where the victim was found were two potatoes and two gold coins - two spade shields George III guineas. The potatoes suggested a region, but the coins were perplexing. Were the Russian Bolsheviks at work again, fomenting a revolution in England?

Kate's investigation of the body reveals calluses on his thumb and fingers and swelling in the knee and elbow leading her to think the dead man might be a golfer. Also Kate learns about the murder of a shop keeper in the area, and she ties it into the case with her murdered man. 

Untangling the complex threads, Kate learns someone she knows is deeply involved in activities that would not benefit the community. 

Another superior puzzle by Frances Brody with all the threads woven into a wonderfully entertaining plot. 


Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley

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