Barney and Siobhan are ghouls. Rather than being a slur on their character, that's a literal description of their existence. They run one of the stations on the London Necropolis Railway (inspired by the real London Necropolis Railway), a transport network that takes the souls of the dead through to their final resting place.
Or at least, that's what they do most days, when everything runs smoothly, the souls behave themselves and the trains get off on time.
This isn't one of those days.
Agnes, a Private Eye and recently departed, is proving a bit difficult to send on her way. She's already managed to skip one train, and is trying to avoid the second, because like a lot of dead people, she's got unfinished business.
Specifically, she was murdered, and isn't overly happy about it. As such, she's now determined to hunt down whoever killed her, and maybe stop a serial killer at the same time.
Very short one this, such that it's best listened to in a single run as effectively a standalone audio play. Seven episodes, and they don't get far past ten minutes each. It's both a gentle thriller and a workplace comedy, with Barney's fears being driven by a monster attempting to slaughter him, and Siobhan's is salvaging her perfect score in the next audit.
Barney is probably my favourite person in this, combining as he does the slacker aspects of the long office worker, with the neuroses of someone who spends their time dealing with corpses. And there's more entertaining workplace stress with both the snobby Collectors, who actually go out to pick the souls up, and the next door platform manager, who is determined to give Siobhan a hard time.
Pretty funny, decent plot, but does wrap up a little quick. Still, worth the time investment.
Tagged: Audio fiction Drama Cast Dramatised Urban fantasy Serial