This excerpt is from the book entitled The Frisby Waterless Murders, an English Murrder Mystery book set in the countryside, starring two policemen who have been working together for a few years and get along really well. There’s lots of dialogue and banter with some humour thrown in amongst the murders and suspects.

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“It is possible as I am not sure anyone could account for their whereabouts all the time as people were reacting to the situation and not acting rationally.”

“Oh, I think one person was acting rationally if they stabbed the Major during the smoke infestation. The train was stationary during the whole time?”

“It only started to move when the smoke was cleared almost completely.”

Knowles wrote something down in his notebook and then spoke “Who found out that the Major was dead?”

“His wife did, Mrs Samantha Harkness, she tried to rouse him once all the smoke had cleared away and everyone had calmed down. It was almost tragi-comic as she slapped him a couple of times and then screamed ‘There’s been a murder’. At almost the exact same time Madge Williams slumped forward and Doris Williams screamed out too before turning around to Samantha Harkness and saying something to the effect ‘What are you doing – that is supposed to be my line?’ I think Harold Trimble shouted out “So we get two murders to investigate that’s value for money.” I asked Mrs Harkness what she was doing and she told me that her husband was dead, really dead, and hadn’t died temporarily for the entertainment of everyone else aboard. I checked his pulse, phoned the police, and told Madge Williams to stop playing dead as we had a real death for the police to investigate.”   

“Mrs Harkness sounds a very cool customer.”

“I think her father was a colonel in the same regiment as her husband. One of the guards regiments I believe.”

“Steeped in tradition like a strong cup of grandma’s morning tea,” said Knowles wondering whether he could have a drink of tea.

“Indeed, Inspector Knowles.”

“What happened next after you phoned the police?”

“Well, we covered up the body with a large table cloth as we don’t really have a place for bodies to rest and then I asked Eddie to contact the driver and get him to reverse us back up the line to Little Flixton.”

“And what was everyone doing on the return journey?”