Victorian Dublin 1856 is a world away - but when a murder takes place behind a locked door the world is intrigued. A clerk at a railway station who looks after the cash is found murdered in his room. To begin with there appears to be no cash missing but is later discovered some is missing from the safe whilst hundreds of pounds, a lot in those days, remains on his desk. An average man would earn around a pound a week and there were several hundred, possibly thousands on the desk. He has been hit over the head and then his throat slit. The door is locked from the inside. This is a true story and research having been done from the apparently copious reports from the time. We get a sense of what the station was like and a glimpse into the lives of some of the workers. The investigation is run very differently to how it would be now. Various suspects were arrested and released and then someone came forward saying they knew who the perpetrator was. Possible murder weapons have been found after a rather chaotic inquest and then exhumation to gather more evidence. A taste of Victorian sleuthery and life, very well researched and presented. A very interesting and intriguing case.

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Super detailed retelling of a real life locked room mystery. The author must have done a lot of research, but the story unfolds in a narrative way and is never dry. Really enjoyed this.

The Dublin Railway Murder was a well written book based on archived information. Set in the 1856 it was interesting to see how crime was investigated. It was written as if it was an educational book and got a little boring as there were so many characters involved. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC

The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris is a gripping and well-researched book. Although based entirely on a true event, it had the verve and pace of the best sort of crime novel. I really liked the way Mr. Whicher popped up in the narrative but was defeated by the mystery surrounding the brutal crime. I loved it.

The Dublin Railway murder by Thomas Morris is well written account of a Victorian murder that actually happened in Ireland over a 100 years ago. The story is taken from archived documents.
November 1856 George Little, the chief cashier of the Broadstone railway terminus is found brutally murdered in his office that was locked. At first, they thought that there was no money taken but after further investigation they found money missing.
Ireland’s most experienced detective Augustus Guy and Dublin’s leading lawyer led the investigation, but they failed to find the murderer. They were several suspects.
Thank you for the publisher for a copy of the Dublin Railway Murder. I don’t usually read a book of true crime. But I will make this an exception. This is a great account of the murder of George Little. But it didn’t wow me. I felt like I was reading a textbook and there was so many characters in this that felt it hard to keep up what’s going on. 4 stars from me.

The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris is extremely well-written – no, it’s better than that. In November 1856, George Little, a clerk in a Dublin railway station, was brutally murdered at his desk in his locked office. The Irish police struggled to find the perpetrator. Scotland Yard sent out Detective Inspector Jack Whicher, but he had no success either. The police held and then released various people but only one suspect was tried in court. Although this was a true-life crime, Morris writes as well as any crime novelist and, to respect that, I shall give no spoilers.

The book is based upon the collection of government documents held in the National Archives of Ireland and newspaper reports. Morris points out differences between Irish law in the 1860s and British law of the 2020s. A husband and wife were deemed to be a single legal person (because a married woman has no separate legal existence during her marriage) and so a woman couldn’t give evidence against her husband, any more than she could sue herself. Because the government documents include interview transcripts and because reporters would scribble down dialogue in court to include in their newspaper reports, Morris is able to give us the actual words used by the players in this tragedy. It’s gripping, it really is.

#TheDublinRailwayMurder #NetGalley

Detailed and well written account of a crime I had never heard of. Most interesting to read about police and court procedures of mid 19th century. Very well thought out account with useful diagrams. Thanks to Netgalley.

Against the backdrop of an Ireland still recovering from the horrors of the potato famine, railway station cashier George Little was brutally murdered in a locked room in 1856. The case would become one of the most famous in Irish history.
Author Thomas Morris vividly brings to life Victorian Dublin and the railway station where George Little worked as a cashier. Violent crime had been rife in the UK at this time but in Dublin murder was largely unheard of, and the murder would become the talk of the city and the subject of rumour and gossip.
The post-mortem report of Little’s wounds are unflinching, and after a rather hasty and haphazard inquest, which took place in line with the procedures of the day, a police investigation began. Despite dozens of interviews and suspicions, it was some months before the wife of railway worker James Spollin came forward to accuse him of the murder.
The narrative gathers pace as the possible murder weapons are found and the station staff are interviewed and some suspected. Morris writes the narrative straight from the interview transcripts so it can feel a little dull at times but it’s fun to spot the discrepancies in the suspects’ stories and to try to solve the murder yourself.
The trial is riveting with even a little humour supplied by the defending counsel, again written based on the original court transcripts. The aftermath of the trial is perhaps the strangest part of the whole story.
Meticulously researched, this is a readable account of one of Ireland’s most complex murder cases. It is essential for fans of true crime stories.

The Dublin Railway Murder by
Thomas Morris

I found this to be a well written and fact filled account of a murder from well over a hundred years ago. The research that the author must have gone through to create this, is highly commendable.

There are so many characters surrounding the tale, that the reader could easily become ‘lost’ very quickly, however, Thomas Morris’ clever writing style keeps you involved and informed at all times.

I found myself easily picturing in my mind, what the various offices and buildings would have looked like, along with the many suspects, policemen, other officials and the ‘supporting cast’.

Well worth a read!

Thomas Morris is a very competent writer and he presents the circumstances around this case in a very lucid and readable way. It must have been difficult to unpick a clear narrative from the reams of archival documents he waded through.

However, although the book impresses on this level it does not elevate itself beyond the dry tone of the source documents, characters never really jump from the page and Morris relies on newspaper accounts a little too heavily. Also, at points the story limps as he reproduces entire sections of witness interviews.

Although the book is a worthwhile read it does not strike me as exemplar of the genre, I suspect Morris did not want to stray too far from the facts but, to be honest, a little more coloure about the cheeks would have made this book much more enjoyable.