John_Hartley Posted 15 July , 2014 Share Posted 15 July , 2014 Fiction - and not a Great War book as such, although it's a whodunnit set in January 1916. Four conscientious objector friends go to a No Conscription meeting. Three go home afterwards. One stays behind for a chat and is found murdered next morning. It's quite well written with none of the stilted language you often come across in period novels and TV. And the plot seems reasonably plausible. The "war anorak" in me cringes at the mention of the likes of food rationing being in place by early 1916 but it isnt stopping me enjoying the read. I've not come across Marston before but he seems to be a prolific writer with over 30 titles to his credit. There are two others in this "Home Front" series but I don't know if they are of our period or not. His other works also seem to be historical crime fiction. This was in The Works a few weeks back for a couple of quid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 15 July , 2014 Share Posted 15 July , 2014 The Home Front Detective series are all set in WW1. In the first of the series the two detectives actually travel to France to bring back two rape suspects who are in the army. Much of the story hinges around the anti German riots post Lusitania. Marston has also written a series called the Railway Detective set around the Victorian railway system and another series with its hero an amateur detective who is an up and coming architect in Restoration London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgranger Posted 15 July , 2014 Share Posted 15 July , 2014 He's very prolific, isn't he? There's a series of books about a character in Marlborough's campaigns as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 Who is he? I used to think that he had chosen the name so that his books were put next to Andrew Martin's railway whodunnits in bookshop Crime sections! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron da Valli Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 I've read most of his Railway detective novels and found them quite good. "Instrument Of Slaughter" is the first of the Home Front series I have read. They are all to be found in The Works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 Who is he? I used to think that he had chosen the name so that his books were put next to Andrew Martin's railway whodunnits in bookshop Crime sections! He was writing first I've read most of his Railway detective novels and found them quite good. "Instrument Of Slaughter" is the first of the Home Front series I have read. They are all to be found in The Works. Not all A Bespoke Murder comes before instrument of Slaughter in the WW1 series and its probably best (but not essential) to read it first. Marston used to be a lecturer in modern history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 Here's a link to his web site: http://www.edwardmarston.com/ and a brief synopsis of the various titles: "Edward Marston Author of forty crime novels, set in six distinct periods of history. His books have been translated into many languages. Domesday Books explore the crimes and misdemeanours surrounding the compilation of Domesday in the late 11th century. Nicholas Bracewell series features an Elizabethan theatre company. Christopher Redmayne mysteries look at the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Inspector Colbeck series deals with major crimes committed on Victorian railways. Inspector Marmion, the Home Front Detective, solves major crimes in Britain during the Great War. In Soldier of Fortune, dashing career soldier and ladies' man, Captain Daniel Rawson, distinguishes himself at the battle of Blenheim in 1704. Drums of War takes him on to 1706 where he is given a challenging solo assignment." I have read and enjoyed all of the "Railway Detective", "Home Front" and "Soldier of Fortune / Daniel Rawson" series so far, and I would recommend them. He also writes under a couple of pen names as follows: "Under the pseudonym of Conrad Allen, he has written eight nautical mysteries, set during the Edwardian era. The first, Murder on the Lusitania, came out in 1999. Under the name of Keith Miles, he is the author of six crime novels whose protagonist, Alan Saxon, is a professional golfer. All the titles have a contemporary setting, each book taking Saxon to a different country. The latest, Honolulu Play-off, was published in 2004. Keith Miles is also the author of Murder in Perspective and Saint's Rest, two architectural mysteries, set in America in the 193Os and featuring Merlin Richards." I may have read one or two of the golf novels without realising that it was him, but I'm not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron da Valli Posted 17 July , 2014 Share Posted 17 July , 2014 Wow I didn't realise he had written under so many pen names! I couldn't get to grips with the Nicholas Bracewell series though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 18 July , 2014 Share Posted 18 July , 2014 Wow I didn't realise he had written under so many pen names! I couldn't get to grips with the Nicholas Bracewell series though. No, I didn't know he had any pen names, so that's all new to me! I haven't tried the Nicholas Bracewell series, so I can't comment. With a series, I prefer to start at the beginning and read them in order, so unless I can get the first book, I generally don't bother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 18 July , 2014 Share Posted 18 July , 2014 No, I didn't know he had any pen names, so that's all new to me! I haven't tried the Nicholas Bracewell series, so I can't comment. With a series, I prefer to start at the beginning and read them in order, so unless I can get the first book, I generally don't bother. Read the first Bracewell - unfortunately had worked out who dunnit quite quickly - more from studying the rules of detective fiction plots rather than any forensic ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 18 July , 2014 Share Posted 18 July , 2014 That's the problem, how many variations on a theme can there be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 18 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 18 July , 2014 That's the problem, how many variations on a theme can there be. Few - as in real life, reasons for murder are fairly limited in scope (anger, self-protection, money, jealousy, etc). Which is why, to my mind, so many novels have an obscure fact being discovered in the last 5 pages that allows the detective to nab their culprit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 18 July , 2014 Share Posted 18 July , 2014 Few - as in real life, reasons for murder are fairly limited in scope (anger, self-protection, money, jealousy, etc). Which is why, to my mind, so many novels have an obscure fact being discovered in the last 5 pages that allows the detective to nab their culprit. That was Agatha Christie's approach. But its simple in such cases - pick out the one person who appears to have absolutely no past connection whatsoever with the victim and they will turn out to be something like the daughter of the man the murderee swindled out of all his money and drove to suicide years before getting her revenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 18 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 18 July , 2014 A perfect example, centurion. It transfers to TV - as in Midsomer Murders, for example, although there the person with no past connection, etc will always be the most famous actor in the cast. Or in Taggart - where the murderer was always the bloke seen buying a packet of ciggies in the first five minutes and then made almost no further appearance until the last five. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 18 July , 2014 Share Posted 18 July , 2014 It's the butler wot dun it! Oops. Sorry...I'll get me coat. Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoppage Drill Posted 18 July , 2014 Share Posted 18 July , 2014 . . . . But when it comes to slaughter You will do your work on water, And bless the bloomin' feet of 'im that's got it . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 19 July , 2014 Share Posted 19 July , 2014 Thank you, Mr Din. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 19 July , 2014 Share Posted 19 July , 2014 I was surprised when it turned out to be Richard Briers in Morse and Midsomer, he seemed such a nice chap when he was growing his own veg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 17 December , 2014 Share Posted 17 December , 2014 That's the problem, how many variations on a theme can there be. Having just read some of the Railway Detective series, I've just become aware of the Home Front books and was about to draw Pals' attention to them - but, luckily, I Googled a search of the Forum and found I'd been forestalled. I'm quite enjoying the Railway series, though some of the plots follow very similar lines (no pun intended): there's a train crash caused by enemies of the railway, causing the death of crew members and prompting Inspector Colbeck of Scotland Yard and his sergeant to join often unco-operative railway and local police in an investigation. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 12 February , 2015 Share Posted 12 February , 2015 The fourth book in the "Home Front" series by Edward Marston, called "Deeds of Darkness" is now available. It centres around the two policemen trying to catch a man who kills a woman in a cinema. It's a good read, with many of the previous characters appearing again, and with a couple of sub plots involving both the senior detective's family and one of their neighbours. It's not a demanding read, but the sub plots do include some of the problems faced by both the soldiers at the front and those left at home during the First World War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scorer Posted 16 February , 2015 Share Posted 16 February , 2015 Edward Marston has started another series .... this time called "The Bow Street Rivals", although it's set much earlier than the First World War. The first one (called "Shadow of the Hangman") is out now ... I've reserved it from Newport Library, and look forward to reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 9 April , 2016 Share Posted 9 April , 2016 I've just finished reading Dance of Death in the Home Front Detective series. A detective inspector and his sergeant plod backwards and forwards across London to interview and re-interview witnesses and suspects after a male ballroom dancer is brutally murdered on the night that Leefe Robinson shoots down a Zeppelin over Cuffley. The policemen's superior is exercised about protecting the site from souvenir hunters and there are a couple of soldiers disabled at the Front and trying to come to terms with their situations. That about sums up the Great War content. I found it a bit tedious, and prefer Marston's Railway Detective books. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 14 May , 2016 Share Posted 14 May , 2016 ... so many novels have an obscure fact being discovered in the last 5 pages that allows the detective to nab their culprit. Just finished Instrument of Slaughter, as reviewed in the opening post. (Since my last post, on Dance of Death, I've read another in the Home Front Detective series, but the Great War content to be slight, and I wasn't moved enough to comment on it.) Instrument of Slaughter is the title I've enjoyed most so far in the series, but as with others of Marston's books, the ending was much as John says. It helped that I know the part of London where the the book is mostly set, and one suspect is a grave-digger at Abney Park Cemetery, which I've mentioned on the GWF here Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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