Andrew Martin Books in Order

How to Read the Jim Stringer Series

For most readers, the best starting point for Andrew Martin's fiction is his signature Jim Stringer, Steam Detective series. This historical crime series follows Jim Stringer, a Yorkshireman who moves to London with dreams of working on the railways, only to find himself embroiled in danger, conspiracy, and murder. The series blends meticulous railway history with dry British wit and classic detective plots.

Because Jim Stringer grows, gets married, and advances in his career against the backdrop of real historical events (ranging from Edwardian England to the battlefields of World War I), the books are best read in publication order. Fortuitously, the publication order matches the internal chronological order of Jim's life. Here is the recommended path:

1. The Necropolis Railway (2002) – Set in 1903. Jim arrives in London as a junior cleaner and is assigned to the eerie graveyard line running out of Waterloo.
2. The Blackpool Highflyer (2004) – Set in 1905. Now an assistant fireman, Jim is sent to Blackpool, where a train is derailed by a mysterious obstacle on the tracks.
3. The Lost Luggage Porter (2006) – Set in 1906. Working undercover as a luggage porter at London's Euston station, Jim gets entangled with a gang of professional thieves.
4. Murder at Deviation Junction (2007) – Set in 1907. Jim investigates a suspicious death linked to a cold-case railway accident on the Yorkshire coast.
5. Death on a Branch Line (2008) – Set in 1911. Jim is sent to Gloucestershire to investigate a hotbed of aristocratic anarchists.
6. The Last Train to Scarborough (2009) – Set in 1914. Jim goes undercover at a Scarborough boarding house on the eve of the First World War.
7. The Somme Stations (2011) – Set in 1916. Jim joins the railway troops operating behind the Allied front lines in France during the Battle of the Somme. This book won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award.
8. The Baghdad Railway Club (2012) – Set in 1917. Jim is sent to Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) to track down a missing railway accountant amid wartime espionage.
9. Night Train to Jamalpur (2013) – Set in 1923. Jim travels to British-ruled India to investigate threats against the East Indian Railway.
10. Powder Smoke (2021) – Set in 1925. Now a Detective Inspector in York, Jim must solve a cold winter mystery that starts with a confrontation at York railway station.

Stand-alone Novels and A.J. Martin Thrillers

In addition to his long-running detective series, Andrew Martin has written several stand-alone novels spanning satire, historical crime, and psychological suspense. If you want a break from trains, these are excellent entry points:

• Bilton (1998) – A satirical comic novel exploring the cynical, chaotic world of British print journalism.
• The Bobby Dazzlers (2002) – A caper novel set in Northern England involving a colorful cast of eccentric thieves.
• The Yellow Diamond (2016) – A crime thriller tracking the lives of ultra-rich Russians in contemporary London.
• Soot (2017) – Set in York in 1799, this atmospheric historical mystery follows Fletcher Rigge, a man hired to find the murderer of a prominent silhouette painter.
• The Martian Girl (2018) – A dual-timeline thriller connecting a modern journalist with a Victorian-era music hall mind-reader.
• The Winker (2020) – A dark psychological thriller set in the hot summer of 1976 about a serial killer active in London and Paris.
• The Night in Venice (2024) – Published under the pen name A.J. Martin, this psychological historical thriller features a young girl fleeing through the streets of 1911 Venice under the belief that she may have committed a murder.

Non-Fiction and Railway Histories

Because Andrew Martin is the son of a railwayman and a passionate rail historian, his non-fiction books are just as engaging as his novels. If you love social history, travelogues, and train trivia, you should explore these titles:

• Underground, Overground (2012) – A fascinating, humorous history of the London Underground written from a passenger's perspective.
• Flight by Elephant (2013) – The true story of Gyles Mackrell and his rescue mission using elephants during WWII in Burma.
• Belles and Whistles (2014) – A journey along Britain's most famous passenger train routes.
• Night Trains (2018) – A travelogue exploring the romantic history and gradual decline of Europe's iconic sleeper trains.
• Seats of London (2019) – An eccentric and entertaining photographic study of the patterns and history of London transport seat fabrics.
• Steam Trains Today (2021) – A look at the heritage railway movement preserving steam travel for modern generations.

What to Know Before You Start

When diving into Andrew Martin's books, there are a few useful tips to keep in mind:

Watch Out for the American Author Mix-up

Many online bookstores and library databases accidentally conflate the British Andrew Martin with an American author of the exact same name. The American Andrew Martin is the author of contemporary literary novels like Early Work (2018) and the short story collection Cool for America (2020). If you are looking for historical British crime or train histories, make sure you don't accidentally buy these contemporary American works!

Do You Need to Read the Jim Stringer Books in Order?

While each Jim Stringer book presents a self-contained mystery that is resolved by the final page, reading them out of order will spoil major developments in Jim's personal life. His slow progression from an insecure, low-level railway cleaner to a confident detective inspector, along with his courtship and marriage to his strong-willed wife Lydia, forms a continuous narrative arc that is best enjoyed chronologically.