The second instalment in Deary's 1970s set Actually Murders series is a mystery, as an unlikely sleuthing trio hunts for a killer at loose on the railways.

1973. Hours after a mysterious phone call is made to the police, a train pulls into Sunderland station with a dead body on board. Cause of death: strangulation. Victim: unknown. Witnesses: none.

Undeterred by this baffling set of circumstances, newly promoted Police Sergeant Aline James vows to crack the case. But when her investigation tactics yield no results, she is forced to seek help from two unlikely allies: unassuming assassin John Brown and calamitous actor Tony Davies.

As bodies pile up, can this unusual trio thwart a complex plot, before one of them, actually, becomes a corpse?