Martin Edwards

Now revised and expanded for its first paperback publication, The Life of Crime was the winner of four major prizes for the best critical/biographical book related to crime fiction: the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and H. R. F. Keating Awards; and was shortlisted for both the Agatha and Gold Dagger Awards In this groundbreaking history of crime fiction, acclaimed expert Martin Edwards traces the evolution of the genre from the eighteenth century to the present, offering a brand-new perspective on the world's most popular form of storytelling. The Life of Crime is the result of a lifetime of reading and enjoying all types of mystery fiction from around the world. Martin Edwards has drawn on his experience as an award-winning novelist to capture the breadth and complexity of crime writing, telling the story of the genre's development and evolution in a way that will fascinate and entertain anyone who delights in a good mystery. With crime fiction being read more widely than ever, The Life of Crime reveals the writers’ secrets and the ups and downs of their literary lives with insight, compassion and wit. This definitive distillation of more than two centuries of extraordinary books and authors into one coherent history is an extraordinary feat and makes compelling reading. 'Martin Edwards is the closest thing there has been to a philosopher of crime writing' THE TIMES

A case of false identities, blackmail, and fedora-adorned doppelgangers, set in a grand home on Sepulchre Street, where nothing - and no one - is quite what it seems. The fourth in the Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery series.

"A triple-decker banquet honoring the golden age of mysteries and bidding fair to continue it to the present."--KirkusThe Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge is a complexly layered mystery perfect for fans of impossible mysteries inspired by Agatha Christie. Martin Edwards pens the perfect locked-tower puzzle with a gothic edge set in 1930s Northern England. 1930: Nell Fagan is looking for a second chance at a career in investigative journalism and the call of Blackstone Fell's sanatorium is irresistible. In 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, Rachel Savernake Looking for answers, Rachel travels to lonely Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. With help from her friend Jacob Flint - who's determined to expose a fraudulent clairvoyant - Rachel will risk her life to bring an end to the disappearances at Blackstone Fell where people go in, but never come out. "A pitch-perfect blend of Golden Age charm and sinister modern suspense."--Lee ChildOriginally published as Blackstone Fell in the UK.

The smoking room on a transatlantic cruise ship is bound to be a hotbed of activity -- but it's less common for it to be the site of a murder. Yet, when the lights flicker aboard the luxury Meganaut, making its way from New York to Paris, this is precisely what happens; in the darkness, a gunshot rings out, and when the light is restored, a man is found dead. The situation becomes all the more curious when it's discovered that the deceased had apparently ingested cyanide just seconds before being penetrated by the bullet. Luckily, for the other passengers, there are two detectives aboard the Meganaut, ready to leap into action. There are also four psychiatrists, and those psychiatrists convince the captain to let them take a stab at solving the crime, using their professional understanding of the human psyche to determine who could have been capable of such a crime -- and why. But will they be able to deduce the puzzle's solution before the killer strikes again? The first of seven novels by psychologist C. Daly King, Obelists at Sea is intelligent and enjoyable Golden Age mystery fare, featuring an atmospheric setting, carefully placed clues, and a complex whodunnit plot explained with sharp-witted ratiocination.

The smoking room on a transatlantic cruise ship is bound to be a hotbed of activity -- but it's less common for it to be the site of a murder. Yet, when the lights flicker aboard the luxury Meganaut, making its way from New York to Paris, this is precisely what happens; in the darkness, a gunshot rings out, and when the light is restored, a man is found dead. The situation becomes all the more curious when it's discovered that the deceased had apparently ingested cyanide just seconds before being penetrated by the bullet. Luckily, for the other passengers, there are two detectives aboard the Meganaut, ready to leap into action. There are also four psychiatrists, and those psychiatrists convince the captain to let them take a stab at solving the crime, using their professional understanding of the human psyche to determine who could have been capable of such a crime -- and why. But will they be able to deduce the puzzle's solution before the killer strikes again? The first of seven novels by psychologist C. Daly King, Obelists at Sea is intelligent and enjoyable Golden Age mystery fare, featuring an atmospheric setting, carefully placed clues, and a complex whodunnit plot explained with sharp-witted ratiocination.

‘A true master of British crime writing’ RICHARD OSMAN'Combines all the things I love most about crime fiction: atmospheric settings, twisty plots, intriguing characters and an unforgettable protagonist' ELLY GRIFFITHSRachel Savernake investigates a bizarre locked-room puzzle in this delicious Gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. England, 1930. Journalist Nell Fagan is on the trail of a bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in Blackstone Fell, a remote Yorkshire village. Three hundred years later, it happened again. Days after confiding in sleuth Rachel Savernake, Nell herself disappears. In search for answers, and determined to bring an end to the disappearances, Rachel travels to the lonely Yorkshire village, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. But Rachel must be careful – with all of these people going missing, there’s every chance she will be taken too... For anyone who loves a dazzling mystery, Blackstone Fell explores the shadowy borderlands between the spiritual and scientific, between sanity and madness, and between virtue and deadly sin. DISCOVER THE REST OF THIS INCREDIBLE SERIES#1 GALLOWS COURT#2 MORTMAIN HALL#3 BLACKSTONE FELL#4 SEPULCHRE STREET#5 HEMLOCK BAYPraise for Martin Edwards'Crime fiction is blessed to have Martin Edwards' THE NEW YORK TIMES'Martin Edwards celebrates and satirises the genre with wit and affection... He leaves you wanting more.' THE TIMES'Suspects abound in the book’s wonderfully labyrinthine plot, and the brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' WASHINGTON POST'Perfect for those who love a locked-room mystery... with a wonderful golden age of crime feel.' BELFAST TELEGRAPH'Martin Edwards holds his own with the best of classic crime.' DAILY MAIL'Ingeniously plotted and racily told... Blackstone Fell is more or less impossible to put down – this is Edwards on the top of his form.' DOROTHY L SAYERS SOCIETY BULLETIN'If you haven’t yet discovered Martin Edwards’ books, you are in for a treat. His books are wonderful, filled with compelling characters, smart plots, great writing.' LOUISE PENNYReaders love Blackstone Fell!'I was captivated from start to finish''Full of twists and turns. Rather a lot of suspects and almost as many deaths. Great stuff''Far and away my favourite series by Martin Edwards''A superb book''Oozes Golden age charm but has a modern sensibility and sharpness to it which I love'

Murder Squad, a group of award-winning crime and mystery writers, celebrate their twenty-first birthday with a bang in this criminally good collection of short stories. A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope . . . Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results . . . A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive' . . . A train traveller teaches a valuable lesson in reading labels . . . A day at the seaside turns stormy for a woman who doesn't care for foreigners . . . A wealthy retiree makes a new friend who connects her to the Other Side . . . and much much more. Short, sharp and packed with twists, these 21 unputdownable tales showcase Murder Squad's range and talent throughout the years. So why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad 'Many Deadly Returns'. With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

‘A true master of British crime writing’ RICHARD OSMAN Rachel Savernake investigates a bizarre locked-room puzzle in this delicious Gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. England, 1930. Journalist Nell Fagan is on the trail of a bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in Blackstone Fell, a remote Yorkshire village. Three hundred years later, it happened again. Days after confiding in sleuth Rachel Savernake, Nell herself disappears. In search for answers, and determined to bring an end to the disappearances, Rachel travels to the lonely Yorkshire village, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. But Rachel must be careful – with all of these people going missing, there’s every chance she will be taken too... For anyone who loves a dazzling mystery, Blackstone Fell explores the shadowy borderlands between the spiritual and scientific, between sanity and madness, and between virtue and deadly sin. 'Martin Edwards celebrates and satirises the genre with wit and affection... He leaves you wanting more.' THE TIMES 'Suspects abound in the book’s wonderfully labyrinthine plot, and the brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' WASHINGTON POST 'Perfect for those who love a locked-room mystery... with a wonderful golden age of crime feel.' BELFAST TELEGRAPH 'Martin Edwards holds his own with the best of classic crime.' DAILY MAIL 'Ingeniously plotted and racily told... Blackstone Fell is more or less impossible to put down – this is Edwards on the top of his form.' DOROTHY L SAYERS SOCIETY BULLETIN

CWA Dagger and Edgar award-winning author Martin Edwards takes readers back to The Lake District after seven years with a cunningly layered mystery that Publishers Weekly calls a "skillful combination of procedural and whodunnit.""Life is certainly nasty, brutish, and short--least for most of the characters in Edwards's much-awaited new installment, set on the edge of England's Lake District."--First ClueWhat happened to Ramona Smith? In the The Girl They All Forgot (The Crooked Shore), history always repeats itself. After a father and son commit suicide on the same day, twenty years apart, DCI Hannah Scarlet, and her Cold Cases Division reopen the investigation of Ramona Smith, a woman who disappeared twenty-one years ago. Desperate to finally find answers, Hannah and her team chase leads as meandering as the shoreline. As the body count rises, the Cold Cases Division must unravel the lives of those on The Crooked Shore before another murder plot unfolds.

Winner of four major prizes for the best critical/biographical book related to crime fiction: the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and H. R. F. Keating Awards; and shortlisted for both the Agatha and Gold Dagger Awards. ‘Martin Edwards is the closest thing there has been to a philosopher of crime writing.’ The Times In the first major history of crime fiction in fifty years, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators traces the evolution of the genre from the eighteenth century to the present, offering brand-new perspective on the world’s most popular form of fiction. Author Martin Edwards is a multi-award-winning crime novelist, the President of the Detection Club, archivist of the Crime Writers’ Association and series consultant to the British Library’s highly successful series of crime classics, and therefore uniquely qualified to write this book. He has been a widely respected genre commentator for more than thirty years, winning the CWA Diamond Dagger for making a significant contribution to crime writing in 2020, when he also compiled and published Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club and the novel Mortmain Hall. His critically acclaimed The Golden Age of Murder (Collins Crime Club, 2015) was a landmark study of Detective Fiction between the wars. The Life of Crime is the result of a lifetime of reading and enjoying all types of crime fiction, old and new, from around the world. In what will surely be regarded as his magnum opus, Martin Edwards has thrown himself undaunted into the breadth and complexity of the genre to write an authoritative – and readable – study of its development and evolution. With crime fiction being read more widely than ever around the world, and with individual authors increasingly the subject of extensive academic study, his expert distillation of more than two centuries of extraordinary books and authors – from the tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann to the novels of Patricia Cornwell – into one coherent history is an extraordinary feat and makes for compelling reading.

DCI Hannah Scarlett is an acknowledged expert in solving cold cases, but she is struggling under the weight of bureaucracy when Ramona Smith's disappearance from Bowness more than twenty years ago crosses her desk. The prime suspect was charged but found not guilty. Now the case has come back into the public eye as the result of a shocking tragedy on the Crooked Shore, the fount of dark legends south of the Lake District. A ruthless killer, who has already got away with one murder, plans further appalling crimes. DCI Scarlett finds herself racing against the clock as she strives to solve the mysteries and save innocent lives.

All The Lonely People is the curtain-raiser to a successful nine-book series featuring Liverpool solicitor Harry Devlin. Devlin finds himself number one suspect in a murder case that is far too close to home. The victim is his estranged wife, Liz, who is found murdered in a dingy alleyway. Determined to find her killer and prove his innocence, Harry begins a journey that takes him into the city's underworld and shatters forever his illusions about the woman he loved. Now beautifully presented in eBook format, avid readers of crime will love reading this gripping, well-written thriller.