The Great Train Robbery: Michael Crichton

Queen Victoria is firmly on her throne, war is raging in the Crimea and in London, the most daring crime of the century is brewing. Once a month a train leaves London for Paris, laden with gold bullion for the British Army in Russia. The carriage is guarded, the two safes are invulnerable, four keys are needed to unlock them and every other possible precaution has been taken. Then, one month, the safes arrive in Paris - but the gold is gone. Edward Pierce has hatched, nurtured and somehow executed the inconceivable theft - a scheme so impressive. and sophisticated the public and press insist that it could only have been devised by an Englishman. Most believe Pierce to be a well-educated gentleman but no-one has ever traced the truth about this handsome, captivating cracksman. A team of accomplices...a fifteen shilling a week train guard who, for £200, will develop a temporary blind eye... and unforeseen circumstances, slip ups and split second recoveries make this novel of gas-lit Victorian London come to life.