Murder on the Night Sleeper

Regular price €19.99
Quantity:
Ships in 10-20 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
Shipping & Delivery
A01=David Meara
Author_David Meara
Category=ATF
Category=DSK
Category=NHTB
Category=WGF
Cultural History
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Films
History & Criticism
History of Engineering & Technology
Railway Books
Railways
Sleeper Trains
Social & Economic History
Social History
Television

Product details

  • ISBN 9781398120877
  • Weight: 313g
  • Dimensions: 165 x 234mm
  • Publication Date: 15 Mar 2026
  • Publisher: Amberley Publishing
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns

Of all the environments most conducive to a little murder and intrigue, the overnight sleeper train is the best. The combination of a private sleeping compartment, a journey through the hours of darkness to a far-flung destination and a closed environment isolated from the outside world offers an ideal opportunity for committing a crime and unravelling a mystery. This book explores the enduring popularity of night trains as the setting for murder and mayhem in fiction over the past 150 years.

Beginning with a brief overview of trains in detective fiction to set the scene, David Meara traces the story of sleeper trains in stories from the United States of America, Great Britain and Europe. The reader is taken on a journey through this fictional world of sleeper train travel, examining some of the stories that have been woven around these trains, and copiously illustrated to bring both the stories and trains to life.

In his short story Murder on the 7.16, one of Michael Innes’ characters says, ‘I’ve no use for trains, if they are not in a thriller – or for thrillers, if there isn’t a train.’ In this intriguing book there are plenty of both.

David Meara is a retired Church of England clergyman who worked in the Oxford Diocese for twenty-seven years, and then served as Rector of St. Bride’s Fleet Street and Archdeacon of London until 2014. He has made a lifetime study of Church movements and brasses and has published extensively on the subject. He has published on a range of topics, including Anglo-Scottish sleeper trains and the scuttling of German ships at Scapa Flow. His father-in-law fought in Burma in the Second World War.

More from this author