The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (20 page)

BOOK: The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

2.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

I enjoyed writing the story enormously, and as a result, from time to time I have responded to further commissions, notably from David Stuart Davies, editor of the late, lamented magazine
Sherlock
, and Andrew Gulli, editor of a modern American incarnation of the
Strand Magazine
. For me, trying to emulate the Conan Doyle style is a challenge, but also a pleasure, and a good way of taking a break from writing my contemporary crime novels. I also wrote a special short pastiche to form part of an after-dinner speech which I gave at the annual conference of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, held at Gladstone’s Library in 2013.

The enthusiasm of those who attended that dinner prompted me to bring together the half dozen full-scale pastiches that I have written over the years, and this ebook is the result. I would like to express my gratitude to Mike Ashley, Andrew Gulli, and in particular David Stuart Davies, who has contributed such a generous introduction, as well as to Mike Jecks for his essay about my writing and to Tom Bullock with his help on the technical side of things. No pastiche can match the brilliance of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, but I hope that readers will find the entries in this new case-book as entertaining to read as they were to write.

Martin Edwards: an appreciation by Michael Jecks

Both as a crime writer and as a keen exponent of the genre, Martin Edwards has long been sought out by his peers, and is now becoming recognised as a contemporary crime author at the top of his form.

Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, Martin went to school in Northwich before taking a first class honours degree in law at Balliol College, Oxford. From there he went on to join a law firm and is now a highly respected lawyer specializing in employment law. He is the author of Tottel’s
Equal Opportunities Handbook
, 4
^thedition, 2007.

Early in his career, he began writing professional articles and completed his first book at 27, covering the purchase of business computers. His non-fiction work continues with over 1000 articles in newspapers and magazines, and seven books dedicated to the law (two of which were co-authored).

His life of crime began a little later with the Harry Devlin series, set in Liverpool. The first of his series,
All The Lonely People
(1991), was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger for the first work of crime fiction by a new writer. With the advent of his second novel, Martin Edwards was becoming recognised as a writer of imagination and flair. This and subsequent books also referenced song titles from his youth.

The Harry Devlin books demonstrate a great sympathy for Liverpool, past and present, with gritty, realistic stories. ‘Liverpool is a city with a tremendous resilience of spirit and character,’ he says in
Scene of the Crime,
(2002). Although his protagonist is a self-effacing Scousers with a dry wit, Edwards is not a writer for the faint-hearted. ‘His gifts are of the more classical variety – there are points in his novels when I think I'm reading Graham Greene,’ wrote Ed Gorman, while
Crime Time
magazine said ‘The novels successfully combine the style of the traditional English detective story with a darker noir sensibility.’

More recently Martin Edwards has moved into the Lake District with mystery stories featuring an historian, Daniel Kind, and DCI Hannah Scarlett. The first of these,
The Coffin Trail
, was short listed for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the year 2006.

In this book Martin Edwards made good use of his legal knowledge. DCI Hannah Scarlett is in charge of a cold case review unit, attempting to solve old crimes, and when Daniel Kind moves into a new house, seeking a fresh start in the idyllic setting of the Lake District, he and she are drawn together by the murder of a young woman. The killer, who died before he could be convicted, used to live in Kind’s new cottage.

Not only does Edwards manage to demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the law (which he is careful never to force upon the reader), with the Lake District mysteries he has managed to bring the locations to vivid life. He has a skill for acute description which is rare – especially amongst those who are more commonly used to writing about city life.

More recently Edwards has published
Take My Breath Away
, a stand-alone psychological suspense novel, which offers a satiric portrait of an upmarket London law firm eerily reminiscent of Tony Blair's New Labour government.

Utilising his legal experience, he has written articles about actual crimes.
Catching Killers
was an illustrated book describing how police officers work on a homicide case all the way from the crime scene itself to presenting evidence in court.

When the writer Bill Knox died, Edwards was asked by his publisher to help complete his final manuscript, on which Knox had been working until days before his death. Bill Knox’s method of writing was to hone each separate section of his books before moving on to the next, so Martin was left with the main thrust of the story, together with some jotted notes and newspaper clippings. From these he managed to complete
The Lazarus Widow
in an unusual departure for him.

More conventionally, Martin Edwards is a prolific writer of short stories. He has published the anthology
Where Do You Find Your Ideas?
which offers a mix of Harry Devlin tales mingled with historical and psychological short stories. His
Test Drive
was short listed for the CWA Short Story Dagger.

Edwards edits the regular CWA anthologies of short stories. These works have included
Green for Danger
, and
I.D. Crimes of Identity
, which included his own unusual and notable story
InDex
. In 2003 he also edited the CWA’s
Mysterious Pleasures
anthology, which was a collection of the Golden Dagger winners’ short stories to celebrate the CWA’s Golden Jubilee.

A founder member of the performance and writing group, Murder Squad, Martin Edwards has found the time to edit their two anthologies.

When not writing and editing, Edwards is an enthusiastic reader and collector of crime fiction. He reviews for magazines, books and websites, and his essays have appeared in many collections.

He is the chairman of the CWA’s nominations sub-committee for the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, the world’s most prestigious award for crime writing.

Martin Edwards is one of those rare creatures, a crime-writer’s crime-writer. His plotting is as subtle as any, his writing deft and fluid, his characterisation precise, and his descriptions of the locations give the reader the impression that they could almost walk along the land blindfolded. He brings them all to life.

(An earlier version of this article appeared in
British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia,
edited by Barry Forshaw)

Meet Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime writer whose sixth and most recent Lake District Mystery, featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind, is
The Frozen Shroud
, published in 2013. Earlier books in the series are
The Coffin Trail
(short-listed for the Theakston’s prize for best British crime novel of 2006)
, The Cipher Garden, The Arsenic Labyrinth
(short-listed for the Lakeland Book of the Year award in 2008),
The Serpent Pool
and
The Hanging Wood
.

Martin has written eight novels about lawyer Harry Devlin, the first of which,
All the Lonely People
, was short-listed for the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger for the best first crime novel of the year. In addition he has published a stand-alone novel of psychological suspense,
Take My Breath Away
, and a much acclaimed novel featuring Dr Crippen,
Dancing for the Hangman
.
The latest Devlin novel,
Waterloo Sunset
, appeared in 2008.

Martin completed Bill Knox’s last book,
The Lazarus Widow
, and has published a collection of short stories,
Where Do You Find Your Ideas? and other stories
; ‘Test Drive’ was short-listed for the CWA Short Story Dagger in 2006, while ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ won the same Dagger in 2008.

A well-known commentator on crime fiction, he has edited 22 anthologies and published eight non-fiction books, including a study of homicide investigation,
Urge to Kill
. In 2008 he was elected to membership of the prestigious Detection Club. He was subsequently appointed Archivist to the Detection Club, and is also Archivist to the Crime Writers’ Association. He received the Red Herring Aard for services to the CWA in 2011.

In his spare time Martin is a partner in a national law firm, Weightmans LLP. His website is
www.martinedwardsbooks.com
and his blog
www.doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/

Bibliography

Harry Devlin Series

All the Lonely People
(1991)

Suspicious Minds
(1992)

I Remember You
(1993)

Yesterday’s Papers
(1994)

Eve of Destruction
(1996)

The Devil in Disguise
(1998)

First Cut Is the Deepest
(1999)

Waterloo Sunset
(2008).

Lake District Mysteries

The Coffin Trail
(2004)