What is Martin Edwards reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Martin Edwards, author of The Frozen Shroud.

His entry begins:

In between writing novels, I like to catch up with some fun reading. Since finishing work on The Frozen Shroud, I’ve read a dozen or more of those “forgotten books” that I write about each Friday on my blog, as well as a few contemporary novels by colleagues whose work I especially enjoy.

I’m a fan of Golden Age fiction, and one of my favourite American writers of the past was Q. Patrick, also known as Patrick Quentin and Jonathan Stagge. In fact, those pseudonyms concealed a complex and fascinating set of collaborations that over the years involved two men and two women. The most famous of the quartet was Hugh Wheeler, an Englishman who spent most of his life in the States, but Murder at the ‘Varsity, also known as Murder at Cambridge, was a solo effort by another expatriate Englishman, Richard Webb. It’s a classic whodunit, written from the point of view of an American studying at Cambridge University, and the final twist is...[read on]

About The Frozen Shroud, from the publisher:

Death has come twice to Ravenbank, a remote community in England’s Lake District, each time on Hallowe’en. Just before the First World War, a young woman’s corpse was found, with a makeshift shroud frozen to her battered face. Her ghost – the Faceless Woman – is said to walk through Ravenbank on Hallowe-en. Five years ago, another woman, Katya Moss, was murdered, and again her face was covered to hide her injuries.

Daniel Kind, a specialist in the history of murder, becomes fascinated by the old cases, and wonders whether the obvious suspects really did commit the crimes. He spends Hallowe’en at a party in Ravenbank – only to find death returning to this beautiful but isolated spot. Once more, the victim is a woman, once more her damaged face is shrouded from view.

The latest horrifying murder presents DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the Cold Case Review Team, with the toughest challenge of her career. Is the case linked to the two earlier killings, and if so, what is the connection? Hannah has never had such a huge personal stake in solving a case, and it comes at a time when her private life is thrown into turmoil.

Hannah and Daniel join forces as they try to discover who killed the Faceless Women. But before the shocking puzzle is solved, both of them must confront ghosts from their own past, as well as the ghosts of lonely and mysterious Ravenbank.

Learn more about the book and author at Martin Edwards’s website and blog.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards.

--Marshal Zeringue