Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards is a prolific crime novelist and story writer -- and a lawyer. His books and stories include three Lake District mysteries featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind: The Coffin Trail, The Cipher Garden, and The Arsenic Labyrinth.

Part of a Q & A with Foyles Bookshop’s crime newsletter Soho Noir:

What led you to a life of Crime?

A youthful devotion to Agatha Christie and to baffling mysteries.

The picturesque landscape of the Lake District contrasts greatly with the somewhat disturbing nature of the crimes featured. Did this opposition between beauty and brutality configure in the descision to set some of your novels there?

Yes, Sherlock Holmes and W.H. Auden pointed out the drama in the contrast between tranquil setting and violent crime – and they were dead right.

Read the entire Q & A.

The Page 99 Test: The Arsenic Labyrinth.

Visit Martin Edwards's website.

--Marshal Zeringue