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Murder on the Northern Express

Case 002 · 9 July 2026 · Easy

The Northern Express stood still for forty minutes at a signal outside Hallam, and when it moved again Harold Pratt was dead in compartment four. He was a jeweller, he was travelling with a locked case, and the case was still locked — so nobody was after his stones. Three people had the run of that carriage while the train waited in the dark. Who killed him, what did they use, and where were they standing when the signal finally changed?

Suspects

• Clara Bennett

  Travelling doctor

  On her way to a medical conference and the first to reach the body. She examined him for two minutes, then asked, far too quickly, whether anyone had touched his collar.

  170 cm

• Edward Voss

  Sleeping-car steward

  Knows every passenger's name and every door's key. Pratt had reported him for a missing wallet last spring, and the company had believed Pratt.

  183 cm

• John Marlowe

  Train guard

  Short, square and twenty-two years on the line. He is the only one allowed in the luggage van, and the only one who knew the train would be held at that signal.

  164 cm

Possible weapons

• The length of lead pipe

  Part of the repair kit for the carriage heating, and the only thing on this train heavy enough to matter.

  2.6 kg

• The silk scarf

  Grey, expensive, and found folded far too neatly on a seat that nobody had used since Hallam.

  60 g

• The brandy bottle

  Taken from the dining car's cabinet without being written in the book, and two thirds full.

  1.1 kg

Places

• The luggage van

  Cold, loud and stacked to the roof. The door to the track was unbolted when the police looked.

  Indoors

• The dining car

  Cleared for the night, tables laid for breakfast, one chair pulled out of line.

  Indoors

• The sleeping car

  Eight compartments, one narrow corridor, and a window that had been open long enough to leave the floor wet.

  Indoors

Evidence & statements

1. Edward Voss was not the one carrying the brandy bottle.
2. The lead pipe came out of John Marlowe's repair kit, and he had it on him the whole time.
3. Clara Bennett was in the dining car.
4. At least one of these is true: whatever was carried into the luggage van was heavier than whatever was carried into the sleeping car, or the brandy bottle was in the luggage van.
5. Pratt's compartment door was locked from the corridor with a staff key after he died: the killer was in the sleeping car.

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