The eleventh Kate Shackleton mystery from Frances Brody - set in the 1920's, a delightful historical cosy mystery with an enigmatic, likeable protagonist in amateur sleuth Kate. Following the discovery of a body on a train, Scotland Yard call on Kate Shackleton for assistance - when Kate begins her secretive investigation it is clear that the first body is just the tip of the iceberg. An engaging read, A worthy addition and firmly in keeping with the rest of this hugely enjoyable series. Highly recommended.

I have not read any of the books in this series - it did not hinder my sentiment of this story. A man is murdered and smuggled onto a train. Kate must identity the man and solve the murder. This is a good read - moves nicely, likable characters, suspense.

London, 1929. In the darkness before dawn, a railway porter, unloading a special train from Yorkshire, discovers a man's body, shot and placed in a sack. There are no means of identification to be found and as Scotland Yard hits a dead end, they call on the inimitable Kate Shackleton, a local sleuth, confident her local knowledge and investigative skills will produce results. But it's no easy task.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a great experience first time reading anything from this author

Set in 1929, this British cozy mystery offers a charming cast of characters, a country setting, and an interesting look at life among the various classes at that point I. Time. It is not necessary to have read the earlier titles in this series, but I plan to do do now. Highly recommend.

In this eleventh book in the Kate Shackleton series, Scotland Yard calls in Kate to investigate an unidentified body is found on a special train from Yorkshire, but they thwart her efforts by demanding her silence on certain things. During her investigation, she learns of another murder—one that supposedly has no connection to the one she’s looking into—or does it? Kate doesn’t believe in coincidences. The local police believe they have the culprit for the second one, but Kate believes he is innocent and is determined. She goes to work with her crew of assistants (an ex-cop turned PI and her housekeeper) to uncover the truth.

The plot and setting for this story were intriguing, but there was too much story—especially the details of rhubarb growing and mining in the area. Yes, the history was interesting at times (I had no idea there was so much call for rhubarb!), but it dragged down the story. The solution was fairly obvious from the beginning, and the end was something of an let down. I will say I found the characters interesting and diverse, but I didn’t pick this up to read a history of rhubarb.

As for the writing, note that there are multiple points of view and though Kate’s is in first person, the rest are all in third person, something I found distracting at times. There was also a lot of head-hopping.

Overall opinion: it’s an interesting cozy somewhat in the style of the Australian TV show, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries – same era (1920s) and all that entails. I felt it was a little slow due to the historical facts, and the end was a little anticlimactic, but overall, it’s not a bad read. If you enjoy the other books in the series, you’ll like this one as well. It did intrigue me enough that I will probably look for others.

My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for the advanced reader copy made available for my review.

I had never heard if this author previously but it's left me wanting to read more. The book starts with an unidentified dead male found in the train used to transport forced rhubarb from Yorkshire to London. The body was found in a potato sack along with two potatoes and two gold coins, Scotland Yard are stumped and call in private detective Kate Shackleton and her team to assist. Kate is given a folder with an artists drawing of the dead male and she has to try and identify him and bring the culprit to justice. I would recommend this novel for all fans of Miss Marple.

greed, private-investigators, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, England, between-the-wars, historical-research

Kate is a private investigator with a motley crew of assistants and a father in area law enforcement. She is called to Scotland Yard for an assignment regarding a murdered man dumped into a train car but is hobbled by instructions of silence and basically blocked at every turn. She heads northward and arranges to stay with an old friend and becomes aware of a seemingly unconnected murder in the town. The reader also gets to learn about rhubarb growth and transport to market outside of the normal growing season, a bit about pit coal mining, and the orphanage system of the time. The book insisted that I read it all in one hot afternoon.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Another excellent, thoughtful story in the long-running, consistently solid series. Brody explores the unsettling and exploitative mining community of Yorkshire in 1929 when Scotland Yard reluctantly calls Kate in to help identify a dead man found in a sack on the famous Rhubarb Train ending up at a London station. Brody always gives her readers plenty of intrigue set amidst an intriguing and well researched cultural background. The character of Kate is richly amplified. Fans will find this to be a very strong and satisfying story in the immensely readable Kate Shackleton series.

This book is #11 in the Kate Shackleton series. I love the character and I particularly loved the historical aspect of this mystery. It involves a murder on a train but not just any train....a rhubarb train. You will learn more about rhubarb than you could have imagined! Then you add Scotland Yard and a possible terrorist and it all fits together in another satisfying outing for Kate. I will say though that I did miss several of the characters that appear in most of her books. I would suggest reading this series in some semblance of order so you can gain some understanding of how Kate came to be where she is in life. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

I thoroughly enjoyed the latest Kate Shackleton novel although I was disappointed that some of the usual characters were missing or played but a small part. The Body on the Train had a different feel to the previous books in the series but I found it engrossing from the outset.

I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery. The characters, plot and context were all most enjoyable. I did not feel the need to rush through the story but rather enjoyed pacing my read and savouring each twist and turn, and there were many. If I had one concern it was in the wrap-up, I think I'd have liked a little more detail, but it did not detract too much from the overall experience.

My thanks to the author, Crooked Lane Publishers and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

The joy of series fiction is getting to spend more time with characters you love and that definitely includes the cast of the Kate Shackleton mysteries. They all have such strong characterization and personalities, even those with minor roles. I also enjoy the evocative descriptions of the local area and the information about railways and rhubarb was a nice bonus!

My one plot quibble is around the photograph of Kevin O'Donnell. In Chapter 26 (Loc 2086) Kate posts a photograph to Sykes to get an extra copy made but then in Chapter 47 (Loc 3584) she "told Sykes about Kevin O'Donnell.... I handed Sykes the man's photograph." But Kate should no longer have the photograph - she posted the one copy to Sykes already back in chapter 26!

This is the 11th book in the Kate Shackleton series and as always is a great read.! I highly recommend that you read all of the books in the series but it does work as a standalone. Frances Broody always provides excellent plots, characters, and settings. A must-read for fans of Maisie Dobbs and Dandy Gilver.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in return for an honest review. This is the latest in a long series about the protagonist, Kate Shackleton. Since this was my first time reading about her, it did take some pausing on occasion and slight leaps of faith in the author to figure out some of the relationships and histories. Otherwise, it was an interesting and well written cosy. I found the history of the area was really well told and encouraged me to research the causes and effects that the author uses to tell the story. It's set in 1929 England, after a major general strike and before the worldwide financial crash. A nude male body, murdered, is found on the daily 'rhubarb train' to the city. Kate is called in to investigate (on the q.t). She stays with a childhood friend whose husband is the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the county. The county happens to also include major coal producing mines, owned by the family, which are being closed and reopened in an effort to produce more income. It's also an area of growing civil unrest and there are lots of suspects, from all classes of society. She's aided by her trusty companions, her niece, and their dog. Well told story, solidly written mystery, and full of interesting bits of history.

I love this series. There's well developed characters with an interesting mystery in all the books, this one included. It's not entirely necessary to read the previous books before this one, but it is nice to have the background story of the characters. Another reason why I love this series is because the author is British so it's clearly not a historical mystery that seems to have been "Americanized" like may other series I've read that have been set in England.

I am a fan of the Kate Shackleton series which features an intelligent heroine, complex mysteries, and examinations of milestone events from early 20th century British history. The Body on the Train has private detective Kate seeking the identity of a murdered man whose naked body was found in a sack on a train carrying rhubarb. Her Scotland Yard handlers point her in direction of foreign intrigue, but Kate learns of a second murder that occurred in close proximity to the first. Are the murders related? If so, what is the thread that ties them together?

Author Frances Brody masterfully weaves together these disparate elements (including some surprisingly fascinating information about rhubarb) into a coherent and compelling piece that also takes on the abuses of the English class system.

All the familiar characters are back: Mrs. Sugden, Jim Sykes, Harriet, Kate's father, and even Sergeant Dog, as well as a new character, Phillip (a childhood friend of Kate's who today might be deemed autistic). We still aren't getting much of Kate's personal life, something I enjoyed in earlier books, and the end of the book seems a bit rushed and tidy, but, all in all, an exceptional read.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

The Body on the Train is a excellent mystery. This book is well written and has well developed characters. I would read more from this author.

The Body on the Train by Frances Brody

This is the latest in the Kate Shackleton series, all of which I have enjoyed. This episode is one of the strongest. Set in 1929 (after the General Strike but before the Great Crash) in that bit of the West Riding where coal, textiles, rhubarb and social injustice were produced, Kate Shackleton demonstrates her ability to “fit in” across the social & political divides. She avoids the obvious explanations for the death of a stranger whose body is found on the Rhubarb train, and discovers instead personal and financial corruption. Many of the familiar characters play a part in the story, and Sergeant Dog the bloodhound settles in to the cast. Very enjoyable- recommended.