Martin Edwards is the 2020 recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in UK crime writing. His latest novel is Mortmain Hall, a crime novel set in 1930. He has received the CWA Dagger in the Library, awarded by UK librarians for his body of work.
He is President of the Detection Club, consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, and former Chair of the CWA. His contemporary whodunits include The Coffin Trail, first of seven Lake District Mysteries and shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year. The Arsenic Labyrinth was shortlisted for Lakeland Book of the Year. The Golden Age of Murder won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards, while The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books also won the Macavity and was nominated for four other awards.
He has also received the CWA Short Story Dagger, the CWA Margery Allingham Prize, a CWA Red Herring, and the Poirot award “for his outstanding contribution to the crime genre”.
Mortmain Hall was published by Head of Zeus on 2nd April 2020.
Reviews of Martin’s books
‘A classic whodunit’ The Daily Express Saturday Magazine.
‘The multi-award-winning Edwards launched a distinctly sparky female detective,Rachel Savernake, daughter of an Old Bailey judge, in his last book and here she reappears in even more spectacular form…an old-fashioned mystery with a string of very modern twists, making Ms Savernake a Miss Marple for the 21st century.’ Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail
‘Martin Edwards is a guru of the interwar Golden Age of crime novels, and his work pays homage to the intricate puppetry and byzantine plotting popular in the period.’ Mark Sanderson, The Times
‘The plot thickens, tightens, twists…It ought not to work…but it does, triumphantly, in the hands of such a fine crime writer as Martin Edwards. It arrived in my hands just as lock-down started; if self-isolation is extended, make sure you get your hands on a copy too. And if suddenly we are free to roam–well, get your hands on it anyway.’ Judith Cutler, Shots
‘Fantastic…richly detailed with vintage glamour and an intricate puzzle to solve, Mortmain Hall is a supremely gripping and clever mystery with intriguing characters and twists and turns aplenty.’ Bookshelf Butterfly
‘Mortmain Hall has to be one of the best mystery books I have read-an ingenious plot wrapped in dark humour and deceitful characters, it grips you from the start and could easily have been written alongside the many great novels during the golden age of crime fiction.’ Vincent’s Bookcase
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