There was a special train, six nights a week, between Christmas and Easter, setting off from Leeds Central station to King’s Cross, transporting up to 200 tons of forced rhubarb to London. It ran until the early 1960s. The idea of that train with its cargo of scarlet stalks intrigued me. Trains are such a familiar trope of Golden Age crime fiction that I was tempted to commandeer one.

Formerly a triangle of land of about thirty square miles, the forced rhubarb growing area now covers about nine square miles. In 2010, twelve farmers within the Rhubarb Triangle successfully applied to have Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb added to the European Commission’s Protected Food Name scheme. Those who know the area may recognise some of the places in this story. Thorpefield is fictional.

London-based Annette Kerner, known as the Mayfair Detective, began her work as an operative during the First World War. I have taken the liberty of borrowing her name and a little of her history. I also borrowed the name of the vicar of Holy Trinity in 1929, the Reverend Mr. H S Branscombe. I like to think that Ryder Cup team members Al Espinosa and Leo Diegel were accompanied to Leeds by Mrs. Espinosa and Mrs. Diegel.

The initial inspiration was none of the above. That came from the way the children of the poor fare in twenty-first-century Britain. The opposite of justice is poverty.

Also available by Frances Brody

Also available by Frances Brody

KATE SHACKLETON MYSTERIES

A Snapshot of Murder

Death in the Stars

Death at the Seaside

A Death in the Dales

Death of an Avid Reader

Murder on a Summer’s Day

A Woman Unknown

Murder in the Afternoon

A Medal for Murder

Dying in the Wool

OTHER NOVELS

Halfpenny Dreams

Sixpence in Her Shoe

Sisters on Bread Street

Author Biography

Author Biography

Frances Brody lives in Leeds where she was born and grew up. After leaving school at 16, she worked and traveled, including a spell in New York. She then won a place at Ruskin College, Oxford, and afterwards studied at York University. Before creating the Kate Shackleton mysteries, Frances wrote historical sagas, winning the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin award for most regionally evocative debut saga of the millennium. When not writing or reading, Frances likes to test her less than brilliant map reading skills by walking in the Yorkshire Dales.