''Beau Blackstone'' is a 1973

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Su ...

by the British writer Derek Lambert, published under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Richard Falkirk. It is the third in a series of six novels featuring Edmund Blackstone, a member of the

Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were the law enforcement officers of the Bow Street Magistrates' Court in the City of Westminster. They have been called London's first professional police force. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in 1 ...

in the pre-

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

.Nash & Kilda p.165 Blackstone goes undercover amongst a gang of

navvies Navvy, a clipping of navigator ( UK) or navigational engineer ( US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally (in North America) to refer to mechanical shovels and eart ...

working on a new

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, and is called on for plans to thwart the first Great Train Robbery.

References

Bibliography

* David Nash & Anne-Marie Kilday. ''Law, Crime and Deviance Since 1700: Micro-Studies in the History of Crime''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016. 1973 British novels Novels by Derek Lambert British historical novels British thriller novels Novels set in London Novels set in the 1820s Novels about rail transport Stein and Day books {{1970s-novel-stub