Drawing on theories of myth and narratives from pop culture, this book develops a sociology of the story that shows how stories create meaning in contemporary religious practices in the West.Martin Stringer shows how stories work in religion within the context of the story-saturated world of the 21st century through discussions of a wide range of theories of myth. He traces religious elements in the stories of film, television and literature to explore how a wide r...

Religious diversity is an ever present, and increasingly visible, reality in cities across the world. It is an issue of immediate concern to city leaders and members of religious communities but do we really know what ordinary members of the public, the people who live in the city, really think about it? Major news items, inter-religious violence and notorious public events often lead to negative views being expressed, especially among those who would not consider themselves to have a reli...

'A cracking good thriller.' Independent on Sunday'Unerringly sharp and pioneeringly original, it locks the reader in from start to finish.' Andrew Barrow, SpectatorWinter, 1906. It's Jim Stringer's first day as an official railway detective, but he's not a happy man.As the rain falls incessantly on the city's ancient streets, the local paper carries a story highly unusual by York standards: two brothers have been shot to death....

'A great deal of well-researched railway detail [and] killer lines, without which no Andrew Martin novel is complete' Irish TimesOn a chilly December evening in 1925, while walking to meet his wife at York railway station, detective inspector Jim Stringer finds himself face to face with a man pointing a revolver straight at him.In a flash Jim's thoughts go spinning back to a hot day at the end of August, when he attended a Wild Wes...

'A thoroughly engaging and entertaining read. All aboard.' Sunday Express'Terrific.' Daily TelegraphIt's March 1914, and Jim Stringer is uneasy about his next assignment.It's not so much the prospect of a Scarborough lodging house in the gloomy off-season that bothers him, or even the fact that the last railwayman to stay in the house has disappeared without trace. It's more that his governor, Chief Inspector Saul W...

'Jim Stringer, Steam Detective, rides the footplate again in this hot-as-coals whodunnit. Sabotage, sleuthing, suspicion and steam combine with Edwardian England and railways to create a detective novel in the grand tradition of detective novels.' Express'This may well be the best fiction about the railways since Dickens.' Independent on SundayA superbly atmospheric thriller of sabotage, suspicion and steam, The Blackpool Highflyer brings a...

The latest in Andrew Martin"s much-loved "Jim Stringer, Steam Detective" series. "Andrew Martin has recreated an extraordinarily convincing world . . . Terrific." Daily TelegraphDecember, 1909. A train hits a snowdrift in the frozen Cleveland Hills. In the process of clearing the line a body is discovered, and so begins a dangerous case for struggling railway detective Jim Stringer, a case which will take him from the Highlands to Fleet Street to the mighty blast furnaces of Ironopolis.Jim...

York railway station, December, 1925. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer is enjoying a pint in the Parlour Bar before accompanying his wife, Lydia, to a charitable function. But when the couple meet at their regular spot near the footbridge, Jim is alarmed to see a man pointing a revolver in his direction.His thoughts go spinning back to a hot day at the end of August, when he attended the York Summer Gala in company with his boss, Superintendent Saul Weatherill, aka...

'A brilliant murder mystery set in Edwardian London about a railway line that runs only to a massive cemetery.' Daily Mirror'An ingenious and atmospheric thriller.' ExpressWhen railwayman Jim Stringer moves to the garish and tawdry London of 1903, he finds his duties are confined to a mysterious graveyard line. The men he works alongside have formed an instant loathing for him - and his predecessor has dis...

WINNER OF THE ELLIS PETERS AWARD'Superb.' Lancashire Evening Post'Richly satisfying.' Sunday TelegraphOn the first day of the Somme enlisted railwayman Jim Stringer lies trapped in a shell hole, smoking cigarette after cigarette under the bullets and the blazing sun. He calculates his chances of survival - even before they departed for France, a member of Jim's unit had been found dead.Durin...

North East India, 1923. On the broiling Night Mail from Calcutta to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target? Jim should have known that his secondment to the East Indian Railway, with a roving brief to inspect security arrangements, would not be the working holiday he had hoped for. The country seethes with political and racial tension. Aside from the Jamalpur shooting...

'The period detail is wonderful . . . The story builds up a good head of steam early on and rattles along nicely to a satisfying conclusion.' GuardianIt's the summer of 1911, and as Britain is gripped by paranoia about German spies and secret preparations for war, railway detective Jim Stringer decides to set out for a much-needed holiday.But before he can leave he finds himself escorting a young aristocrat, Hugh Lambert, who is on his way to be ex...