The Highland Falcon Thief: Adventures on Trains #1
In The Highland Falcon Thief: Adventures on Trains #1, a middle-grade series starter from MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman, a young boy is swept up in an investigation to uncover the perpetrator of a jewel theft.
When eleven-year-old Harrison "Hal" Beck is forced to accompany his travel-writer uncle on the last journey of a royal train, he expects a boring trip spent away from video games and children his age.
But then Hal spots a girl who should not be on board, and he quickly makes friends with the stowaway, Lenny. Things get even more interesting when the royal prince and princess board for the last leg of the journey—because the princess's diamond necklace is soon stolen and replaced with a fake! Suspicion falls on the one person who isn't supposed to be there: Lenny.
It's up to Hal, his keen observation, and his skill as a budding sketch artist to uncover the real jewel thief, clear his friend's name, and return the diamond necklace before The Highland Falcon makes its last stop.
Reviews (70)
Exciting read for 9yr old
My son who is 9yrs old loves all of M G Leonard’s books- he can’t wait for the next one to come out!
Exciting book
My train fanatic son enjoyed the book. He said it was exciting!
A Swell Train Mystery
So, here's the thing. Most train-based mystery adventure books I've read, for kids or for adults, assume the reader likes trains or loves trains, and at least has some familiarity with trains. Maybe. Maybe not. This is the first kids train mystery I've read that starts out with a kid who is only mildly interested in trains, and who ends up in love with the adventure because authentic cool, interesting, and ripping things actually happen. The setup is that our hero Hal has been farmed out to his Uncle Nat to go on a ceremonial royal train ride because Mom is going into hospital with a problem pregnancy. Hal wants to be home and the whole train thing is a yawn and a distraction. Uncle Nat is a travel writer and a train nut, (train personnel call such people "foamers"), but instead of just foaming about trains he undertakes to teach Hal about trains and to gently introduce him to the magic and adventure of train travel. It's all pretty mellow and engaging, and lots of little details keep the interest level up. Hal meets up with Lenny Singh, (the engineer's daughter who sneaked on for the fancy final ride of her Dad's train). She is a 100 percent foamer, but in a "come and let me show you something cool" fashion. Her enthusiasm is contagious, and I was with her all the way. This could have just been a buddy, meet cute, travelogue, travel adventure, and I would have been pleased. Once you add on a swell, clever, jewel thief mystery, with detecting and lurking and sneaking and wrongful accusations, and an eclectic mix of Agatha Christie style suspects, well this made the Orient Express look like an HO train set. So, I was very pleased with and entertained by this excellent buddy adventure mystery. Either as an actioner or a mystery, this had a lot of honest appeal. Not just for trainiacs. (Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
All aboard!
Uncle Nat is a travel writer who loves trains and is thrilled to be a passenger on the Highland Falcon’s final journey. It’s the summer holiday and Hal is not looking forward to spending four whole days on board a train with his weird uncle. ‘I don’t like trains. They’re boring.’ Hal isn’t bored for long as it turns out there’s a jewel thief on board and he’s quickly caught up in the action. ‘Often the best place to hide something is in full view.’ On board the Highland Falcon and potential suspects are: 🚂 Harrison (Hal) Beck - 11, enjoys drawing 🚂 Nathaniel (Nat) Bradshaw - Hal’s mother’s older brother, a travel writer 🚂 Sierra Knight - a film star who is friends with the princess 🚂 Lucy Meadows - Sierra’s personal assistant 🚂 Countess of Arundel, Lady Elizabeth Lansbury - onboard with her dogs (Trafalgar, Viking, Shannon, Fitzroy and Bailey), her husband recently died 🚂 Rowan Buck - the Countess’ gentleman-in-waiting/dog handler 🚂 Ernest White - was the head steward on the royal train for 47 years, allergic to dogs 🚂 Baron Wolfgang Essenbach - friend of the prince 🚂 Milo Essenbach - the Baron’s youngest son 🚂 Steven Pickle - reality TV star, entrepreneur, runs a train company called Grailax 🚂 Lydia Pickle - Steven’s wife 🚂 Isaac Adebayo - the royal photographer 🚂 The prince and princess 🚂 Marlene (Lenny) Singh - 11, the train driver’s daughter 🚂 Mohanjit Singh - train driver, Lenny’s father 🚂 Gordon Goulde - head steward on the royal train 🚂 Graham - train guard 🚂 Amy - waitress 🚂 Joel Bray - fireman 🚂 Daniel and Kerry - the night shift. Lenny, with her enthusiasm and tool belt, was always going to be my favourite character, especially when she was described (with a smile) as “the most disobedient girl ever to be born”. The surprise stand out for me was Uncle Nat, who turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected him to be. From his six watches, because “It’s good to remember that there are other places on the planet, filled with wonderful people”, to his love for trains, Nat is the person I’m most looking forward to spending more time with as the series progresses. ‘This will be a journey you’ll remember for the rest of your life.’ With a mystery unfolding and a group of mostly rich people with various agendas onboard, this was a fun adventure. Train enthusiasts will enjoy the information about how steam trains operate and detectives in training will have their work cut out for them separating the red herrings from the clues, which are found in the text and in Elisa Paganelli’s illustrations. The details in the illustrations matched the text most of the time. I’ll definitely be on board for Hal and Uncle Nat’s next adventure. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan UK, for the opportunity to read this book.
Unique and Charming!
Reading Format: Digital eBook (Library Loan) - $0 Reading Time: 1 Hour and 45 Minutes The Highland Falcon Thief was a unique, charming and wonderful read. I think that the absolute strongest aspect of this story was its setting. M.G. Leonard did an absolutely incredible job depicting the Highland Falcon both as a whole and down to its individually wonderful train cars like the library, the game room and the observatory to name a few. I could absolutely picture this royal, grand old timey steam train in my head and it made me wish I could have been on this train journey too. Unfortunately I was fairly disappointed when it came to the characters in this story. Other then a few exceptions, it was made very clear that adults in this story were either stupid, foolish or mean. You can see this from the passengers on the train to the police who investigate the thefts to even Hal's own Uncle who pretty much leaves him on his own for the majority of their time on the train. The prince and princess and the work staff seem to be the only decent adults to be found. The added illustrations from Hal's sketchbook littered throughout the book was one of my favorite parts of reading the story - I feel like they really enhanced the entire experience. Some were cute, some were funny, some helped the reader picture things they might be unfamiliar with. And it could all be tied back to the actual story itself because they represented what Hal himself was drawing. An excellent addition. The mystery of the jewel thefts was very well written. M.G. Leonard did a great job incorporating a strong red herring to deceive both the main characters Hal and Lenny as well as the readers and made sure to keep everyone guessing and uncertain of the truth the whole time. There were some plot twists I definitely did not see coming and I didn't put the whole thing together until right at the very end. Unfortunately, in my opinion the overall plot was a bit weak didn't really have much nuance to it. Only the strong mystery kept my attention. I am definitely interested in checking out the sequels and seeing what new antics and crimes Hal and his Uncle get entangled in!
Such a great book!!
Wow! I really loved this book! What a great story full of mystery, adventure, & an amazing train! It’s The Highland Falcon Thief’s last journey before becoming a museum. Hal’s mom is sending him to take its last journey w/his Uncle Nat who is a journalist, while she prepares to have his baby sister. Hal thought he was going to be bored to tears-boy was he wrong lol He makes friends w/a girl named Lenny who is a stowaway lol People are complaining about their jewelry going missing, so he & Lenny decide to investigate. Hal can draw amazingly, & his drawings help them along the way. He realizes how amazing trains are, & how amazing his uncle is. He becomes close to an uncle he barley knew before this, makes a lifelong friend, has a new world opened up to him, & finds his inner courage when it matters most. Such great story telling, amazing characters, a great mystery, & a grand adventure. I highly recommend this, & can’t wait to start the 2nd book. An absolutely beautiful cover w/beautiful illustrations all throughout the book as well!💜
Fun Read
A fun mystery for middle-grade readers.; the book is definitely a must-read for fans of mystery or trains! This book features strong characters and a clever mystery sure to keep you guessing. There's text and illustrations a la James Patterson's Treasure Hunters series (but this is better) I look forward to the next mystery by M.G. Leonard!
A Jewel Thief on the Train!
Readers join Hal, the nephew of a prominent travel writer, as he travels aboard the Highland Falcon train on its final journey and works to solve a crime along the way. Many characters in this book display vocal passion for trains, and their enthusiasm was contagious. Definitely a fun read!
Good story - approved by 10 year old grandson
I read this to my grandson and we both enjoyed it. A story along the lines of Hercule Poirot and the Orient Express, without the murder but with the usual Agatha Christie tradition of the detective finally gathering all the suspects in one compartment to eliminate each of them one by one until the surprise revealing of the culprit! Easy and fun to read. My only gripe is the frequent use of the 'sat' and 'stood' when 'sitting' and 'standing' would be the correct grammar, particularly in written English. Never mind - i'm probably just an old fogey!
Great book apart from the bad use of English
Great story but very bad use of the English language. This is a very good story but what really spoiled it for me were the mistakes 'a man was stood' well actually he wasn't he was standing and ' a man in a uniform was sat' well no he wasn't he was sitting. I hope I don't come across more of these, it might be the sloppy way the author speaks English but please don't encourage young ones to do it as well by putting in your books.
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