Edward Marston was born in Cardiff in 1940 and lived there until 1959. His first novel, BREAKS (written under his real name Keith Miles) was set in Cardiff and his is still now a member of the Welsh Academy. A full-time writer for over thirty years, he has worked in radio, film, television and the theatre, and is a former chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association.

Prolific and highly successful, he is equally at home writing children’s books or literary criticism, plays or biographies and settings for his crime novels range from the world of professional golf to the compilation of the Domesday Survey. The Iron Horse is the fourth book in the series featuring Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming, set in 1850s London.