Dorothy Martin is an expatriate American living in and loving her adopted country, England. Recovering from a broken leg, she is traveling into London by train to have her final medical checkup. She strikes up a passenger-type conversation with her fellow seat-mate, a friendly, young American businessman.

Returning to her seat from getting a cup of coffee, Dorothy is shocked to find her travel companion unconscious. Responding to her cries for help, a fellow passenger identifying himself as a doctor determines Dorothy’s seatmate is dead from an apparent heart attack. The doctor assures her that he will take over, so she leaves her name and address and goes distractedly on her way, returning to her country home to mull over the strange events of the day.

In retrospect, Dorothy feels she was far too accepting of the doctor’s facts -- heavens, she didn’t even get his name! -- and it bothers her there is no mention of the American’s death in the evening papers. Her new husband is out of the country and unavailable to discuss things and that very night there is an attempted break-in of her home. The next day, Dorothy calls in a favor from the Chief Inspector. He reluctantly reports back that the Metropolitan Police Station never had a report of a death, much less a body!

As a fellow American and an outraged citizen, Dorothy vows to investigate further, recalling their brief conversation for facts she can use. Remembering the fellow mentioned Silicon Valley and computers, Dorothy contacts a computer-literate friend, who uses the power of the Internet to aid Dorothy’s cause. She soon becomes convinced her deceased train companion was a young computer genius here to visit the London office of his company, and that the cover up of his demise meant it was not accidental. Dorothy proposes to go “undercover” as a receptionist in the London office.

Author Jeanne Dams uses a lot of the standards for the cozy -- sweet little lady with cats, quaint English cottage and village, a non-violent death of a virtual stranger -- but she gives it all a modern twist. A few loose ends were left dangling such as how the murderer got the body from the train to where it was eventually discovered; the mysterious house break-in that is never linked to anything or mentioned again, and a second dead body with an undisclosed cause of death.

Also, the new husband feels like an extraneous character, appearing only in a few quick phone conversations and passing references, unaware of what his wife is up to. Still, The Victim in Victoria Station is a pleasant enough read, even if the cozy is not your usual cup of tea.

--K. W. Becker