The Necropolis Railway

Young, ambitious, and a little green, Jim Stringer moves from the country to the garish, seedy, and dangerous side of 1903 London, determined to become a railway man. A chance meeting has gotten him his foot in the door of the South East Railway, run out of Waterloo Station. Jim finds his duties are confined to a mysterious graveyard line, the so-called Necropolis Railway, which takes dead bodies from central London to the gigantic new cemeteries being built--dug--in the city's outskirts. For some reason, the men he works alongside have formed an instant loathing for him. And his predecessor has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Forced to live by his wits and to arrive at his own deductions, Jim tries to work out what is going on before he too gets a one-way ticket on board the Necropolis Railway.

This novel launches a series featuring Jim Stringer, who, with the help of his landlady--soon his wife and easily his match in wit--tackles some of the darker mysteries that have ridden the rails of England in the Edwardian Age, the period of Kipling, Peter Pan, and H.G. Wells. It will be followed by BLACKPOOL FLYER and THE LOST LUGGAGE PORTER.

ANDREW MARTIN was a Spectator (London) Young Writer of the Year and has written for the Guardian , the Daily Telegraph , and Granta . He has a weekly column in the New Statesman . He lives in London.