An Artist in Crime

Detective Jack Barnes is fresh from a high‑stakes robbery case that saw an innocent man freed and a stolen fortune recovered. Exhausted but restless, he boards the midnight express from Boston to New York, where he can’t seem to shut off the analytical mind that solved his last puzzle. In the quiet of his cabin, he catches fragments of a covert conversation: a confident voice boasting about outwitting the police, and a challenger who claims to enjoy the hunt. Intrigued, Barnes leans in, his keen ears picking up clues that could lead to another hidden crime.

The story unfolds as a classic cat‑and‑mouse chase, with Barnes piecing together the cryptic dialogue while the train clatters onward. The tension builds not through action alone, but through the mental duel between a master detective and a daring criminal who believes he can stay one step ahead. Listeners are drawn into the atmospheric night‑train setting, where every whispered word may hold the key to the next mystery.