Adventures on Trains is a middle-grade detective fiction series by the award-winning British young adult novelist MG Leonard and her collaborator Sam Sedgman. The illustrations, which form an important part of each story, are by Elisa Paganelli.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: each story is set on or around a railway journey, in a different country each time. The books are notable for showing their work regarding the real-life railway journeys, with an appendix to each book detailing any Acceptable Breaks from Reality.
Harrison Beck, known as Hal, starts the first book as an unwilling passenger on a British vintage steam train, the Highland Falcon, tagging along with his Uncle Nat, a travel writer whom he doesn't know all that well. Hal and Nat soon bond and when a crime is committed, they form a detecting team, aided by Hal's talent for drawing and near-photographic observational skills.
As of 2023 there are six books:
- The Highland Falcon Thief
- Kidnap on the California Comet
- Murder on the Safari Star
- Danger at Dead Man's Pass
- Sabotage on the Solar Express
- The Arctic Railway Assassin
Tropes in the series as a whole
- Art Shift: In-universe, the illustrations in the books are drawn by Hal as he solves the mystery. Sometimes he gets new art materials or tries a different style, and the illustrations reflect this. In general, the style becomes more realistic as the series progresses.
- Cool Train - of course.
- Book 1 has the Highland Falcon, an A4 Pacific steam engine with vintage Pullman carriages.
- Book 2 has the California Comet (Zephyr in real life) - a commercial sleeper service with a billionaire's luxe railcar, the Silver Scout,p attached.
- Book 3 has Janice, a 35NC steam locomotive.
- Book 4 departs from the formula and features a number of European trains, including the Eurostar, and a Class 99 tank engine.
- Book 5 has the Solar Express, a prototype hydrogen-fuelled locomotive, plus guest appearances by The Ghan, the Indian Pacific and Puffing Billy.
- Book 6 has the Arctic Circle sleeper train from Stockholm to Narvik.
- Covers Always Lie - with few exceptions, the beautiful cover art shows Hal and his current Kid Sidekick clinging to the outside of a locomotive as it sweeps towards us. This rarely represents a scene from the book.
- Cozy Mystery - because this is Middle Grade Literature. It also owes an acknowledged debt to Agatha Christie.
- Fair Play Mystery - with a very few exceptions, the reader knows what Hal knows.
- Just Train Wrong is heavily averted - the authors strive to be as accurate as possible and provide a great deal of authentic detail.
- More Hateable Minor Villain: if a character is really horrible to Hal, he's probably not the culprit of the title crime.
- Most Writers Are Writers: as well as Uncle Nat, who's a travel writer, we meet several journalists and a novelist who writes cozy mysteries herself.
- Nice to the Waiter - Hal always is, and it often pays off.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: many characters, although most draw inspiration from more than one celebrity.
- Steven Pickle, English businessman - has aspects of Alan Sugar (irascible host of The Apprentice UK) and travel tycoon Richard Branson (as in Branston Pickle).
- "The Prince and Princess" are clearly Prince Harry and Princess Meghan, who were still working royals at the time of writing.
- Sierra Knight is a film actress whose name owes something to Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly.
- August Reza, tech billionaire, looks not unlike Steve Jobs and his interests overlap with Elon Musk's.
- Mervyn Crosby seems to be a cross between Rupert Murdoch (media empire and non-US roots) and Donald Trump (appearance and personality).
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: averted. Hal is eleven in the first book and his twelfth birthday is an event. By the time of the sixth book he's about to turn thirteen, and is visibly taller in the illustrations. Supporting character Marianne also looks a little older on her second appearance.
- Put on a Bus - apart from a few, most characters don't recur from book to book. This is particularly noticeable with Lenny Singh, a major character in book 1, who announces that she's going to make sure they keep seeing each other - and then doesn't reappear, and is only mentioned once. To be fair, she lives in Torquay, which isn't anywhere near Hal's home in Crewe. On the other hand, unless Hal didn't keep his promise to share the silver whistle, he must have contacted her in order to get it back for book 4.
- Sequel Goes Foreign - the first book is set in the UK, the second in the US.
- Sequel Hook: at the end of the first book, Uncle Nat mentions that he's been asked to go to the US and invites Hal along, which forms the plot of the second book. Undeveloped sequel hooks include Hal and Lenny's ongoing friendship and an open invitation to visit Japan.
- Spot the Imposter - five out of six books involve characters using fake names and disguises.
- Steam Never Dies - discussed. The Highland Falcon is vintage rolling stock taking a special last trip before being sent to a museum. Janice the 35NC belongs to a heritage line, and keeping her going is a full-time job. The unnamed Class 99 is owned by a rich hobbyist. All the other locomotives mentioned are diesel, electric or hydrogen/solar powered.
- Tempting Fate: in the occasional moment of Genre Blindness, Uncle Nat is given to saying that this time surely they'll have a peaceful journey with no crimes. Wrong!
- Travel Cool - all the trains are awesome in their different ways.
- World Tour - Hal has racked up four continents so far. Expect a map at the start of each book.
