P J MacFarlane

The Sante Fe Super Chief is living up to its reputation as the Train of the Stars as it departs L.A. with Hollywood's great and good on board. But when young steward Horace hears a mysterious crying child and a detective boards, looking for an infamous German spy, it's not the actors who are set to star in the drama that unfolds. In the third of the Chronicles of a Conductor series, senior conductor Clyde Mayer, together with his friend and assistant conductor Bob Preston are forced to team up with Detective Harry Donovan and Mae West to take on kidnappers and international espionage on their journey to Chicago.

The mysterious Miss Richardson boards the luxurious Super Chief, Train of the Stars, at Union Station with a first class ticket but no luggage, as the New York police begin to investigate the latest murder by the infamous gangland killer The Black Widow. This time, her victims include a Pullman Conductor. In the second of the Chronicles of a Conductor series, senior conductor Clyde Mayer, together with his friend and assistant conductor Bob Preston, must ensure that neither gangsters nor the oncoming snow storm should delay the Super Chief's westward progress.

The year is 1941 and the luxurious Super Chief, advertised as the Train of the Stars, carries its passengers into the cool Michigan night. A host of characters have boarded the train at Chicago and history may depend on which of them will make it to the Los Angeles terminus. In the first of the Chronicles of a Conductor series, senior conductor Clyde Mayer, together with his friend and assistant conductor Bob Preston are dedicated to getting the Super Chief to LA on schedule, but when two passengers - a police officer and a servant to an enigmatic Hollywood starlet - go missing, it becomes clear that not only their passengers' lives, but the fate of the war in Europe, may be at stake.

The Chronicles of a Conductor are an ongoing series of stories set on board the legendary streamliner Sante Fe Super-Chief, known as "The Train to the Stars", travelling between Chicago and Los Angeles. Opening on the eve of World War II, the series follows the adventures of conductor Clyde Mayer and engineer Bob Preston as they encounter murder, espionage, snow storms and unexpected decouplings, all the time working hard to maintain the Streamliner's reputation for providing a luxurious experience and a timely arrival.