Audiobook · read by volunteers
Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective - Or, The Crime of the Midnight Express
A. Frank Pinkerton
Read by Sibella Denton · 29 chapters · 4 h 05
About the book
A train robbery, a murdered friend and a determined detective: Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective is high Victorian serial melodrama at full steam. When a daring crime takes place aboard the Midnight Express, Dyke Darrel sets out on a man-hunt that leads him through disguises, tricks and narrow escapes. Chapter titles such as A Startling Crime, Dyke Darrel's Trick, Professor Darlington Ruggles and Scalped promise a story that never pauses for breath. This is the kind of sensational entertainment that readers once devoured in cheap weekly instalments, with cliffhangers, villains and surprising twists on nearly every page. Twenty-nine chapters read by Sibella Denton fill just over four hours. If you enjoy old-fashioned detective adventures, with plenty of melodrama and no apology for it, this one is a lively and absorbing ride.
Introduction
Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective, or The Crime of the Midnight Express, was published in 1886 under the name A. Frank Pinkerton. A. Frank Pinkerton appears to be a name used for sensational fiction of the period, one that echoes the famous detective agency, and little is known for certain about the person behind it. The book belongs to the world of the dime novel and the sensational serial, a form of cheap popular fiction that flourished in the United States and Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Detective stories of this kind drew on the fame of real investigators and the public fascination with railways, crime and pursuit. Their plots are built from sudden reversals, disguises and extravagant coincidences, and their style is energetic and direct. They are not subtle, but they are good fun, and they show how the figure of the professional detective was taking shape in popular imagination before the classic puzzle stories of the twentieth century.
This LibriVox recording is read by Sibella Denton and lasts a little over four hours. It is divided into twenty-nine chapter files, and the titles give a good idea of the pace: A Startling Crime, Dyke Darrel's Trick, Professor Darlington Ruggles and Scalped. The reader's brisk delivery suits the material, which was written to keep its audience turning pages, or in this case pressing play.
For anyone interested in the history of crime fiction, the book offers an opportunity to hear what ordinary readers enjoyed in the 1880s. For everyone else, it is a spirited and unpretentious adventure, best taken with a sense of humour and a willingness to enjoy the melodrama.
Public domain
A. Frank Pinkerton died in 1887: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text