..presents...
The Lake District Series
DCI Hannah Scarlett and Oxford historian Daniel Kind are the central characters in three Lake District Mysteries
'Fans of the British village mystery who are very particular about setting should trek to The Cipher Garden.'
Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
'Martin Edwards uses the lovely landscape of the Lake District to fine effect...clean prose and an engaging love for the territory.'
Dick Adler, The Chicago Tribune
'Ambitious, nuanced and brimful of Lake Country atmosphere -- Edwards always gives top value'
Kirkus Reviews
(Click on cover images to order via Amazon)
The Serpent Pool - February 2010
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Readers' Group Information - Reviews
 | Oxford historian Daniel Kind and his partner Miranda both want to escape to a new life. On impulse they buy a cottage in Brackdale, an idyllic valley in the Lake District. But though they hope to live the dream
, the past soon catches up with him... Tarn Cottage was once home to Barrie Gilpin, suspected of a savage murder. A young woman's body was found on the Sacrifice Stone, an ancient pagan site up on the fell., but Barrie died before he could be arrested. Daniel has personal reasons for bcoming fascinated by the case and for believing in Barrie's innocence. When the police launch a cold case review, Brackdale's skeletons begin to rattle and the lives of Daniel and DCI Hannah Scarlett become strangely entwined. Daniel and Hannah find themselves risking their lives as they search for a ruthless murderer who is prepared to kill again to hide a shocking secret. ‘A wonderful, absorbing read: a crime deeply rooted in the past, a beautifully evoked sense of the Lake District…DCI Hannah Scarlett is a fine creation and it’s good news that we can look forward to seeing more of her in the future.’
'A poignant mystery: atmospheric, haunting, and so tactile you can almost smell the moist air.' |
 | 'The second Lake District mystery finds Daniel Kind, Oxford University historian and amateur sleuth, trying to determine why his garden seems almost deliberately designed as a labyrinth. Meanwhile, Detective Chief Inspector Hannah Scarlett, head of the cold case squad, gets a tip that fingers a suspect in an old murder: the dead man's wife. Slowly, even gracefully, the author weaves the two stories in and around each other until they become one. Mixing cozy and hard-boiled ambience, the series' setting, a quaint English village with big-city problems, takes center stage here, keeping readers off guard by mixing the familiar with the unfamiliar. Perhaps this innovative use of landscape as character eventually will seem quite ordinary, but enjoy it while you can. It's not often the genre offers something genuinely fresh.' David Pitt, "Booklist" ‘Edwards expertly scatters clues to an ugly series of surprises in the manner of Peter Robinson and the early P.D. James.’
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Readers' Group Information
'A beautifully-crafted book. Events from the past are woven into a fascinating contemporary rural mystery to make a satisfying whole. And for lovers of the classic whodunit, there's a delicious twist in the tail.'
‘Ambitious, nuanced and brimful of Lake Country atmosphere.’
‘Wonderfully convoluted case with more zigs and zags than the labyrinth created decades ago by arsenic miners in the local fells...this is a book that has it all—character, plot, and pace—as well as a portrait of the Lake District so vividly drawn that one almost feels the need for an umbrella while reading it.’
'Patrons who enjoy challenging mysteries with complex characters, intricate relationships, and dangerous secrets (think Deborah Crombie, P.D. James, and Elizabeth George) will snap this one up.'
'The thrill of Edwards' latest Lake District Mystery lies in his ability to keep that secret--and others--always in motion…The fells and spars and the village itself provide a rich setting--along with the thematically central Museum of Myth and Legend--but the characters' emotional landscape really drives the story forward, including Scarlett's and Kind's overlapping relationship woes, hardly secondary to the plot. Passions both past and present provide complications and satisfying solutions, with hints of more ahead as this delightful series continues.'
'A classy and classic British crime novel. A mix of amateur sleuth and police procedural, there are clues available for the reader to have a good guess at what happened to Emma Bestwick…The combination of likeable characters and a strong plot with informative local history and an evocative setting make this series a winner.'
'As ever, Edwards serves us a rich mixture of local history, strong characterisation and cunning plotting.'
'Highly recommended.' |