The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards

First Line: "Do you believe in ghosts?" Miriam asked.

The Faceless Woman is said to walk through the small Lake District community of Ravenbank on Hallowe'en. The first time was just before World War I when a young woman's corpse was found with a shroud frozen to her shattered face. Just five years ago another woman was murdered and her bloody face covered with a shroud. 

When historian Daniel Kind is invited to a Hallowe'en party at Ravenbank, he looks forward to it simply because he is a specialist in the history of murder. Are the age-old rumors true as to the identity of the real killers? Kind may have an opportunity to find out because once again Death is stalking Ravenbank. 

Martin Edwards' rock solid Lake District mystery series has one of those will-he-won't-she relationships that are practically irresistible when the characters involved are as winning as historian Daniel Kind and Detective Inspector Hannah Scarlett. The two of them have been dealing with inappropriate partners, misread cues, and conflicting workloads for six books now. I'm happy-- but hesitant-- to report that there may be a light at the end of their tunnel.

It's not going to be easy. Daniel is very nervous about not wanting too much too soon from Hannah, and Hannah is still trying to drill it into her former partner's head that the party is over while simultaneously dealing with crippling staff reductions on the police force. 

Both Daniel and Hannah are complex, interesting characters, but I have to admit that I think The Frozen Shroud's story let them down a bit. For one thing, too many personal problems were settled with happy coincidences, and for another, it was too easy for me to deduce whodunit.

Be that as it may, I still enjoyed reading the book as the next chapter in the lives of two characters I've grown to care for very much, as well as for its creepy atmospheric setting. I'm looking forward to book number seven.
 

The Frozen Shroud by Martin Edwards

ISBN: 9781464201073 

Poisoned Pen Press © 2013

Paperback, 278 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Lake District mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.


 

The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards

First Line: "I must talk to Hannah Scarlett, it's a matter of life and death."

Orla Payne has returned to the Lake District, and she wants the truth about her brother Callum's disappearance. When her uncle committed suicide in the Hanging Wood, everyone else took it as an admission of guilt in Callum's death. But the boy's body was never found, and Orla wants the truth. At the urging of historian Daniel Kind who's finishing up his latest book at St. Herbert's Library, she tries to interest DCI Hannah Scarlett of Cumbria's Cold Case Review Team in the case. Unfortunately each time she tries, Orla is drunk and makes less than a credible source of information. But when Orla dies, Hannah Scarlett is determined to find out what happened to Callum-- and to Orla. 

"Don't you care about justice?" Orla's drunken message haunts DCI Hannah Scarlett even more than recent budget cuts do. Since Orla is assumed to have died as a result of an accident, Hannah promises her boss that she'll only give the case a lick and a promise, but she knows that if she and Detective Sergeant Greg Wharf work fast and hard, she'll be able to bring about the justice that Orla so desperately wanted. Greg Wharf has turned out to be the surprise on the team. Presenting himself as a "Jack the Lad" and a sexual harassment case just waiting to happen, Wharf has turned into quite the investigator and is a big help to Hannah.

Greg's evolution is one of the many reasons why I enjoy this Lake District series so much. Edwards' characterizations are layered and as you're drawn into the stories, you come to realize how much you care for these people. Daniel Kind and Hannah Scarlett are made for each other, but they're taking their sweet time in getting together, partly due in fact to Hannah's difficulty in ending her old relationship with bookseller Marc Amos. And Wharf? In so many other series, he would remain forever a "Jack the Lad," but in Edwards' hands-- although he still remains a wolf-- he's a wolf with surprising depth to his character. Methinks he's going to play a larger part in books to come, and I'm looking forward to the developments. 

The Hanging Wood is a bit of a locked room mystery even though nothing of import actually takes place behind a closed door. It's the entire location that's locked down to outsiders. St. Herbert's Library, Mockbeggar Hall, the Hanging Wood, Lane End Farm, and the upscale caravan park all seem to form a little world, and when one of the characters states that not even poachers would go into the Hanging Wood, it was my clue that outsiders were not involved. The problem was in ferreting out which insider was responsible. 

When Hannah and Greg begin investigating, they find an almost incestuous knot of people living there. Niamh Hinds divorces the farmer to marry someone working at the caravan park. Her son Callum stays with his father while Orla goes with her mother. The farmer's brother lives in the Hanging Wood. The daughter of the man who owned Mockbeggar Hall marries the owner of the caravan park. And so it goes. I actually deduced the identity of the killer before the reveal, but there was no way I could've understood the why of it all. This leads to one of my favorite scenes in the book in which Hannah is interrogating one person of interest in one place while Daniel is doing the very same thing at another location. On the surface, the scene is a comparison of interviewing styles, but it reveals so much more about the characters of Hannah and Daniel. Daniel's father was a police officer and Hannah's superior at one time. It's obvious that Daniel is familiar with police procedure. The scene also shows how very good these two are at what they do and that they belong together. A little romantic tension when those two aren't even in the same building. Good, isn't it?

That's just one scene. The Hanging Wood is an excellent entry in a superior series. Yes, you can walk right into the action in this book and not really miss anything, but I'd suggest that you start at the beginning so you can savor every little bit of the atmosphere of England's beautiful Lake District and the wonderful stories and characters that Martin Edwards has created.

The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards

ISBN: 9781590588543

Poisoned Pen Press © 2011

Paperback, 278 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Lake District mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.  

The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards

First Line: The books were burning.

Bethany Friend's mother is dying, and Detective Chief Inspector Hannah Scarlett is determined to reopen the seven-year-old cold case to find justice for the woman whose life was shattered by her daughter's death in the Serpent Pool. The case would be much easier for Scarlett to take on if she didn't already have several problems on her plate. She's been saddled with a sergeant who is known for causing trouble; she and her partner Marc Amos are still adjusting to their new home which is close to the Serpent Pool; and Marc's financial woes have made him susceptible to the charms of his pretty shop assistant. 

Then Hannah meets Louise Kind, the sister of the man she's been avoiding-- historian Daniel Kind who's helped her on other investigations. Daniel is back in England's Lake District working on a book about brilliant, opium-addicted Thomas De Quincey, and his sister Louise is living with wealthy book collector and lawyer Stuart Wagg. The stage is now set for an investigation filled with secrets and obsessions which mirror De Quincey's drug-laced writings for, you see, all these elements are related. All you have to do is read The Serpent Pool and piece them together for a very satisfying-- and chill-inducing-- conclusion.

I love how author Martin Edwards can weave together (1) a nuanced and compelling romantic triangle between Hannah, Daniel and Marc, (2) the glorious and sometimes creepy setting of England's Lake District, and (3) investigations into a fascinating cold case as well as one occurring in the present day. Every book in this series is consistently first-rate.

Even a description of setting like this one as Hannah hikes to the Serpent Pool tells you about her character:

The sky was bruised. Livid patches of yellow, with deep purple streaks. Hannah stood on the back door step outside Undercrag, staring up to the heavens as Marc strode off. The colours reminded her of the cheeks of a victim of domestic violence.

It only stands to reason that a seasoned police officer would see a sky like that and compare it to domestic violence, but even though it's indicative of so many facets of Hannah's character, it's the type of comparison few writers use. And as for characterizations, the Lake District should be listed in a cast list. It is an area rich in history and literature and atmosphere, and Edwards knows how to use it to create stories in which readers love to immerse themselves.

Wonderful characters, perfect setting-- and from its very heart-stopping beginning all the way to its shocking end-- an investigation that fascinates with every twist and turn. Although I had my beady eye focused in the right spots, I couldn't even begin to piece the conclusion together properly.

If you've never read one of Martin Edwards' Lake District mysteries, I urge you to do so. They're among the best to be found anywhere.
         

The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards

ISBN: 9781590587126

Poisoned Pen Press © 2010

Paperback, 284 pages

Police Procedural, #4 Lake District mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 

The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards

Title: The Arsenic Labyrinth
Author: Martin Edwards
ISBN: 9781590584743
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2007
Paperback, 294 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #3 Lake District mystery
Rating: A
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: You'd never believe it to look at me now, but once upon a time I killed a man.

When a grifter returns to Coniston in England's Lake District and tips off a local newspaperman that he knows what happened to a woman who went missing ten years before, DCI Hannah Scarlett and her Cold Case Review Team re-opens the case.

Hannah's investigation takes her to the Museum of Myth and Legend and on to the remote and eerie Arsenic Labyrinth (a series of tunnels constructed to remove arsenic from ore). While Hannah is involved with her cold case, historian Daniel Kind is doing research for a new book on John Ruskin, whose neighbors built the Arsenic Labyrinth. It doesn't take Hannah long to discover that there are two mysteries to solve, and she enlists Daniel's aid. They have to hurry because someone out there has proven that they will kill to keep their secrets.

Edwards brings the Lake District to life in this series of crime novels, along with a sense of the small villages and the people who live in them. In places like this, history still matters although it may not seem so to much of the rest of the country, as one character laments:

"Perhaps it doesn't matter," he murmured. "These tales of the past, handed down through the generations. The sophisticates who live in our towns and cities have no truck with the tales and traditions of the countryside. Why should they, when they have broad minds and broadband?"

Even more than the story, the setting and the sense of history, the characters of Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind are the glue that holds everything together. They are so well-drawn, so obviously attracted to each other, that I'm sure I'm not the only reader who would like to shake some sense into each of them and push them together. The fact that they're both first-class investigators is icing on the cake.

If you're in the mood for an atmospheric mystery with a haunting setting, a touch of history, an involving mystery, and two excellent characters, by all means find yourself one of Martin Edwards' Lake District mysteries. Do you have to start at the very beginning? No, not at all. But with characters like Hannah and Daniel and a setting like England's Lake District, why deprive yourself?

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