Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards received the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in UK crime writing, in 2020. His latest novel is Hemlock Bay; two earlier books in the Rachel Savernake series, Blackstone Fell and Gallows Court, were nominated for the CWA Historical Dagger, while Sepulchre Street and Gallows Court were shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel. His ground-breaking history of the genre, The Life of Crime has won the Edgar, Macavity, Anthony, and H.R.F. Keating awards and shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. In 2023 he received both the George N. Dove award from the Popular Culture Association for his outstanding scholarship and the Golden Derringer, a lifetime achievement award, for his short stories In 2018 he received the CWA Dagger in the Library, awarded by UK librarians, for his body of work. He has won two Edgars, and the Agatha, Macavity, and Poirot awards in the USA, and the CWA Short Story Dagger, CWA Margery Allingham Prize, and the H.R.F. Keating award (three times) in the UK. His latest Lake District Mystery is The Crooked Shore, published in 2021. The series began with The Coffin Trail (shortlisted for the Theakston’s prize for best British crime novel) and includes The Arsenic Labyrinth (shortlisted for the Lakeland Book of the Year award) and The Crooked Shore. His first series featuring Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin began with All the Lonely People, nominated for the John Creasey Memorial Dagger, and has recently been reissued.

Martin’s blog “Do You Write Under Your Own Nane?” has had approaching four million views and is widely acknowledged as one of the leading crime fiction blogs. The author of over 80 short stories, he has also edited over 50 anthologies and published ten non-fiction books, including a study of crime scene investigation techniques and real life cases. A well-known critic and writer about the crime fiction genre, past and present, with The Golden Age of Murder exemplifying his knowledge of crime fiction and its authors in the 1920s and 1930s, Martin is President and Archivist of the world-famous Detection Club and a former Chair of the CWA. He is also series consultant to British Library’s highly successful series of crime classics, and has published The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. and Howdunit, two more award-winning books. Martin is a founder member of the Murder Squad collective of northern crime writers and is currently Archivist of the Crime Writers’ Association and editor of its annual anthology.

CWA Awards

CWA Historical Dagger - Longlisted
CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger – Shortlisted
CWA Dagger in the Library - Winner
CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction - Shortlisted
CWA Diamond Dagger Winner
CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction - Longlisted
CWA Red Herring
CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction - Highly Commended
Margery Allingham Prize - Winner
CWA Short Story Dagger - Winner
CWA Short Story Dagger - Shortlisted

Other Awards

Red Herring Award – 2012 winner
Margery Allingham Short Story Competition – 2014 winner, with Acknowledgements
Two Edgar Allan Poe awards from Mystery Writers of America
Agatha award from Malice Domestic
Three Macavity awards from Mystery Readers International
Three H.R.F. Keating awards from Crimefest
Poirot award from Malice Domestic