Reluctant book counter-rec

[avevale_intelligencer]

If, like me, you don't like the kind of detective story in which, halfway through the book, a new character appears and immediately identifies himself as the villain...avoid the Railway Detective series by Edward Marston. He's done it on me twice now, and it rather makes a nonsense of the latter half of the book, because there are no other suspects, no surprises, very little suspense, and nothing for the brain to chew on. The story becomes a stately pavane in which hero and villain gradually move closer to each other till the final confrontation, which tells us nothing we haven't already learned from the villain's dialogues with his henchman.

It's a pity, because the books are clearly well-researched as to period, and the characters quite nicely done. Mr Marston seems to have written an awful lot of other detective novels. I hope they aren't all like this.