Martin Edwards (author)

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Martin Edwards (born 7 July 1955) is a British crime novelist, critic and solicitor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Kenneth Martin Edwards was born in Knutsford and educated in Cheshire and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a first class honours degree in Jurisprudence in 1977. He qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and joined the firm of Mace & Jones, where he became a partner in 1984. He is now head of employment law at the firm. In 1988 he married Helena Shanks and they have two children, Jonathan and Catherine.

[edit] Crime Fiction

Martin Edwards’s first crime novel, All the Lonely People, introduced Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin and was published in 1991, earning a nomination for the John Creasey Dagger for best first crime novel of the year. To date, Edwards has written eight novels about Devlin; the most recent is Waterloo Sunset. The Coffin Trail was the first of three books set in the Lake District featuring Detective Chief Inspector Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind; it was short-listed for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Award for best crime novel of 2006. Edwards has also written a stand-alone novel of psychological suspense, Take My Breath Away, and completed The Lazarus Widow by the late Bill Knox.

Edwards has written over 40 short stories and ‘Test Drive’ was short-listed for the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger for best short story in 2005. He has edited the Crime Writers’ Association’s annual crime anthology since 1996.

Since 1987, Edwards has reviewed crime fiction. He writes extensively about the genre and has contributed to various reference works, including The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. He has also published Urge to Kill, a study of true crime and homicide investigation.

Martin Edwards was a founder member of the Northern Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association and of the Murder Squad collective of crime writers. In 2007, he was appointed Archivist of the Crime Writers’ Association.

[edit] Legal Writing and Career

Martin Edwards has written many articles and has published seven books on equal opportunities, employment law and other legal subjects. He was a founder member of the Law Society’s Standing Committee on Employment Law. He regularly receives high rankings in independent legal directories such as The Legal 500 and Chambers Directory UK. In 2007, he was described in the former as 'one of the leading employment lawyers in the country', and in the latter as 'Mr. Employment'. His clients include Liverpool Football Club and National Museums Liverpool.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

  • 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)
  • The Lazarus Widow (with Bill Knox) (1999)
  • Take My Breath Away (2002)
  • The Coffin Trail (2004)
  • The Cipher Garden (2006)
  • The Arsenic Labyrinth (2007)
  • Waterloo Sunset (2008)

[edit] Short Stories

  • Where do you find your ideas? and other stories (2001)

[edit] Anthologies Edited

  • Northern Blood (1992)
  • Northern Blood 2 (1995)
  • Anglian Blood (with Robert Church) (1995)
  • Perfectly Criminal (1996)
  • Whydunit? (1997)
  • Past Crimes (1998)
  • Northern Blood 3 (1998)
  • Missing Persons (1999)
  • Scenes of Crime (2000)
  • Murder Squad (2001)
  • Green for Danger (2003)
  • Mysterious Pleasures (2003)
  • Crime in the City (2002)
  • Crime on the Move (2005)
  • I.D.: crimes of identity (2006)
  • The Trinity Cat and other mysteries (with Sue Feder) (2006)

[edit] Non-Fiction

  • Understanding Computer Contracts (1983)
  • Understanding Dismissal Law (1984)
  • Managing Redundancies (1986)
  • Executive Survival (two editions)
  • Careers in the Law (six editions)
  • Know-How for Employment Lawyers (with others) (1995)
  • Urge to Kill (2003)
  • Tolley’s Equal Opportunities Handbook (four editions)

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

  • 'Martin Edwards' in The Mammoth Encyclopaedia of Modern Crime Fiction ed. Mike Ashley (2002) (Robinson)
  • ‘Martin Edwards’ in Whodunit?: a who’s who in crime & mystery writing ed. Rosemary Herbert (2003) (Oxford University Press)
  • ‘Employment – North West’ in The Legal 500 (2007) (Legalease)
  • ‘Employment' in Chambers Directory UK (2007) (Chambers)

[edit] External links