Danger at Dead Man’s Pass by MG Leonard & Sam Sedgman
Urban-sketcher Hal and his uncle take a night-train to Berlin in the fourth of the Adventures on Trains series. This time calamity strikes off-stage: a man has been frightened to death in a train tunnel: Hal and Uncle Nat are invited to investigate - undercover.
“This time he had a case to solve before he’d even got on a train.”
There are bats, witches, codes, folklore, wartime secrets, an ancient curse, and references to Goethe’s Faust and Kästner’s Emil and the Detectives. The chapters are short and by the start of chapter two, the adventure is well underway.
Can Hal unravel the mystery before the deadly curse strikes again?
In the first three books, the trains themselves are among the chief delights: creating dynamic, dangerous, and unusual settings for Hal’s investigations. In Danger at Dead Man’s Pass, the investigation unfolds in a castle. There’s more of a Cluedo vibe: locked rooms, hidden keys, and detailed floor plans.
An enjoyable excursion, but I missed the strong flavour of the trains and the sense of high-speed action which was so distinctive in the earlier books.
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Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed by Eve Wersocki-Morris
