Hal (Harrison) isn’t happy at being sent off to spend time with his uncle when his baby sister is due. He hardly knows his successful travel-writer uncle, let alone spending the next four days on a train.

But this isn’t just any train. It’s the Highland Falcon, a train that has transported Royalty around England and through Scotland for decades. This trip will be the final trip for this beautiful steam train, loved by train enthusiast (chuffer nutter) and high society alike.

With no electricity on the train, Hal puts his game console away, accepting a sketch pad and paper so he can at least continue his love of drawing. He’s told he is the only child on the train, until he sees someone peeking out curtains, and then again in the dining car.

Others on the train are Reality TV stars, a Countess and her five dogs (Hal loves dogs, but his parents say no), a film star, a Baron, a royal photographer and more, all dressed in their finery. Only hours after they depart on their journey, a diamond brooch and a set of pearl earrings vanish. Fingers point at Hal, but he’s betting on the girl he saw.

He needs to prove his innocence, and is determined to find the thief. Despite the grandeur of the train, it is still a confined space in each carriage and room. How will Hal do his sleuthing without anyone noticing him?

A stowaway, a secret love affair, and a hidden royal toilet are just some of Hal’s discoveries, but still not what he’s looking for. To the sound of the wheels clicking along the track, Hal ponders the clues he’s found. The only problem is his own uncle looks like the most likely suspect! Hal doesn’t want to believe it. But if not him, who is the thief on the Highland Falcon?

Like a junior ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ but without the murder! Royals, Dogs, Stowaways and Diamonds, The Highland Falcon’s last trip ever is packed with mystery, secrets and memories all interwoven into webs of lies among the wealthy and elite passengers.

Jewels are vanishing from under their noses and suspicion is rife. Young Harrison Beck (Hal) is swept up in the grandeur of this beautiful steam train’s epic last trip, in a mystery he puts his life on the line for, in order to expose the culprit. It really felt like I was on the train with them, especially in the narrow passages as it rumbled and rocked under their feet.

Great Middle Grade Fiction.

Authors – M G Leonard & Sam Sedgman

Illustrator – Eliza Paganelli

Age – 8+

(Trains, Action, Wealth, Jewels, Jewellery, Rich, Last trip, Uncle, Family, Mystery, Stowaway, Theft, Railway, Historical, Travel Writing)