Original mysteryNo. 241 hr 21 minHercule Poirot
On a winter journey to a country house, a chance encounter on the railway turns unsettling when Captain Hastings meets a courteous gentleman carrying a large sum of money—only for the man to vanish without explanation at Brackwell Station. What begins as a baffling disappearance becomes an investigation into missing funds, false identities, and a trail that leads beyond the village to the silent chalk pits, where rumours cling like fog and convenient stories travel faster than trains. With the Belgian Detective guiding the inquiry, the case tests what can be proven, what can be staged, and what witnesses swear they saw when the platform lamps are low. Inspired by historical atmosphere of its era while remaining entirely fictional, The Gentleman on the Platform is a classic Golden Age–style railway mystery of misdirection, superstition, and a vanishing designed to look like the impossible. This is an original Golden Age–style mystery presented as a respectful homage to classic detective fiction. All characters and events in this story are fictional. No affiliation, endorsement, or official connection is implied. If you witnessed someone vanish in plain sight at a station, would you trust your eyes—or assume someone wanted you to see exactly that? If you’d like to help keep Nocturnal Tales alive: Patreon (ad-free episodes, early access, bonus content – tiers from $2.99/month) Buy Me a Coffee (one-time support) PayPal (one-time tip) Spotify (follow the show) CHILDREN’S BOOK (Amazon) Sherlock Paws and the Diamond of the Nile Written by Nocturnal Tales . Narrated by Nocturnal Tales . Golden Age mystery, railway mystery, train disappearance, station vanishing, missing money, false identity, village secrets, chalk pits, winter case, classic detective fiction, superstition vs evidence, period crime
Free to listen, in full, with no account and no password. Your place is remembered in this browser, so you can stop and come back.
Every story on Nocturnal Tales is free, and stays free. Listeners who choose to give are the reason there is a new one tomorrow.
This is our work and what we live on: two of us, writing and producing a story every night. Giving here goes straight to us, rather than through a platform that can change its mind overnight. Why donations are important.
or
Give with PayPalPayPal opens in a new page. Monthly support is easiest to manage through the card option.
No story is ever locked. Payment is handled securely by Stripe — we never see your card details. You can change or cancel your support at any time, from this page, with no explanation needed.
Tell us what you made of this one. No account and no password — just a name.
Hercule Poirot
New Orleans, the spring of nineteen thirty-three. There are certain cities which, even before one has committed a crime in them, seem already to know the secret. Arthur and the Belgian Detective have come for a rest.
1 hr 14 minNo. 248
Max Carrados
It begins with Max Carrados greeting his friend Carlyle at the door and remarking that he has a mystery about him somewhere. He can hear it in the man's step. The mystery is a railway disaster.
by Ernest Bramah
1 hr 7 minNo. 247
A. J. Raffles
Two cases tonight from the gentleman thief who has drawn more requests than anybody else in the Archive. WILFUL MURDER is the darkest thing in the whole collection. Bunny warns us at the outset that most of their robberies will not bear telling at length.
by E. W. Hornung
1 hr 13 minNo. 246
Hercule Poirot
Mexico City, the summer of nineteen twenty-eight. A banquet is given for the man who is about to become President — a soldier who won a civil war, lost an arm doing it, and has spent the years since collecting enemies with the same efficiency he once collected territory.
1 hr 20 minNo. 245