Mortmain Hall

A Gothic remaking of the classic country house murder mystery.

Edwards is the consultant to the British Library's bestselling crime classics, which has total UK sales of about 750,000 to date.

Martin Edwards has won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating, Macavity, Poirot and Dagger awards as well as being shortlisted for the Theakston's Prize. He is President of the Detection Club, Chair of the Crime Writer's Association and consultant to the British Library's bestselling crime classics series. In 2020 he was awarded the Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to crime fiction.

A classic whodunnit
A classic whodunnit with a dark gothic twist... An absorbing and intricately plotted golden age murder mystery'
Any novel opening in 1930's England on the London Necropolis Company's private station has got to be a winner, especially in the hands of Martin Edwards, connoisseur extraordinaire of the Golden Age of crime fiction
Martin Edwards is a guru of the interwar Golden Age of crime novels, and his work pays homage to the intricate puppetry and byzantine plotting popular in the period
The multi-award-winning Edwards launched a distinctly sparky female detective, Rachel Savernake, daughter of an Old Bailey judge, in his last book and here she reappears in even more spectacular form... This is an old-fashioned mystery with a string of very modern twists, making Ms Savernake a Miss Marple for the 21st century'
Edwards maintains a cracking pace and only the smartest readers will anticipate the denouement. As elegant period escapism, it ticks all the boxes
Edwards has created some marvellous characters in these books which carry a real flavour of the Golden Age of crime fiction. There's even the traditional list of clues at the end so puzzled readers can see how many they missed
What Martin Edwards doesn't know about Golden Age crime fiction would probably fit on the back of a first-class stamp... With meticulous and detailed research, scratch-them-and-they-bleed characterisation and locations you can smell and touch, Edwards has added his own unique style to a format beloved of Golden Age fans. The result quite different from the contemporary Lake District series his readers may find more familiar, but nevertheless a masterclass'
From the winner of this year's Diamond Dagger award, Mortmain Hall is a gripping whodunnit set in the '30s
Winner of this year's Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger, Martin Edwards is the author of many crime novels, an expert in the genre. His latest series, set in the Golden Age, is an ingenious modern 'take' on the classic whodunnit... A whole page would not give me space to explain the intricacy of this story. A tangle of satisfying clues, and a pleasing denouement in the classic Christie manner'
This wonderful evocation of a bygone age would make Mortmain Hall worth reading on its own but when you combine it with a cracking story and original and engaging characters, you've got a real winner
Lots here that is impressive, not least the deft writing...Definitely one to read