Guy Fawkes Night, 1857. Joel Heygate is the popular stationmaster at
Exeter St David's railway station - an impressive figure of a man
replete with frock coat and top hat, bushy eyebrows and walrus
moustache. But when the charred remains of a body are discovered in the
embers of the town's annual Bonfire Night celebration, everyone is
horrified when it becomes clear that they belong to Mr Heygate.
Mr Gervase Quinnell of the South Devon Railway contacts Scotland Yard
for their assistance, and Superintendant Edward Tallis sends the Railway
Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant Victor Leeming to
Exeter with all due haste. They quickly unearth three suspects, but are
they missing something?
It is only when Heygate's diary turns up unexpectedly that the truth
becomes clear and a fourth suspect emerges. As Colbeck closes in on the
killer, he finds himself in mortal danger - can justice prevail?