The sleepy village of Bramley is deep in decline: the school, cottage hospital and local post-office are threatened with closure, and the Bramley Cross and Brocklehurst Preserved Steam Railway is in desperate need of repair and extension if it is to survive. When a benefactor in the shape of an obscenely wealthy Russian oligarch begins to transform the fortunes of the village, tongues wag about the provenance of his village-saving cash—is he Mafia or self-made millionaire? Concerns abate with the transformation of the Post Office, a new maternity unit for the hospital and a completely revamped railway museum—featuring Stalin's famous armoured carriage. But the sudden death of a passenger on the train line's popular Santa Special forces one canny villager to investigate. Elderly Miss Parrish has a sharp mind and a fearless determination, but is she really prepared for what she discovers?

N. M. Scott was born and educated in south London, and after a career in advertising moved to Rottingdean, Sussex, where he now lives and works. He maintains a lifelong interest in the history of transport, church architecture and the 'Canon' of Sherlock Holmes.