..presents…
The Lake District Series
DCI Hannah Scarlett and Oxford historian Daniel Kind are the central characters in five Lake District Mysteries. Read more about this series, or the Guardian coverage.
‘Martin Edwards’s Lake District Mysteries are gentle though by no means cosy, teeming with good writing, humour and attractive scenery. The lively plot of The Dungeon House — seventh in the series — is full of Cumbrian adultery, grudges, missing teenagers, and a house spreading its malign influence over generations.”
Marcel Berlins, The Times, December 2015
‘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
The Coffin Trail
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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 becoming 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.’ Peter Robinson
The Cipher Garden
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Reviews
Warren Howe is surprised by a hooded visitor while working in a garden in Old Sawrey, a lovely village in England’s Lake District. Soon it is Warren who is dead – murdered with his own scythe. The police identify several suspects, but lack the evidence for an arrest.
Years later, an anonymous tip spark the interest of DCI Hannah Scarlett, who heads the local Cold Case Review Team. Warren’s wife Tina is accused of killing her husband, although she had an alibi. Hannah’s sergeant, Nick Lowther, involved in the original investigation, seems disturbed by her determination to look again at the old crime. And Daniel Kind, the historian, wants to uncover the secret of the strange garden at his own cottage. Enlisting the help of Warren’s former business partner, garden designer Peter Flint, Daniel is drawn into the mystery of the murder.
The Arsenic Labyrinth
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Reviews
After ten years, Guy – a drifter with a taste for deception – has returned to Coniston in England’s Lake District. Local journalist Tony di Venuto is campaigning to revive interest in the disappearance of Emma Bestwick. Guy knows what happened to her. He tips off Tony that Emma will not return.
DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of Cumbria’s Cold Case Review Team, re-opens the old investigation. Her inquiries take her to the Museum of Myth and Legend and to the remote and eerie Arsenic Labyrinth – a series of stone tunnels used to remove arsenic from tin ore.
A shocking discovery makes it clear to Hannah that there is more than one mystery to solve…
The Serpent Pool
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Reviews
Analysis by Margot Kinberg
The Lake District’s cold case specialist, DCI Hannah Scarlett, is determined to uncover the truth behind Bethany Friend’s apparent suicide six years ago, in the Serpent Pool. Why would Bethany, so afraid of water, drown herself? Hannah fears that her partner, bookseller Marc Amos, is keeping dark secrets, and holds the key to Bethany’s past. Hannah still carris a torch for Daniel Kind, who is researching Thomas De Quincey and the history of murder. Once Daniel and Hannah suspect connections between Bethany’s drowning and a current sequence of killings, death comes dangerously close to home.
