Monday 26 September 2011

Short Stories


I'm delighted to say that my story 'Clutter' has been chosen to appear in Best British Mysteries, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, and in the US, in The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2010, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Ed Gorman.

Meanwhile, Murder Squad's second anthology is due out shortly and I've just received my author copies - and very good the book looks too, in my admittedly biased opinion.

I'm setting out below the official press release. Review copies can be obtained from Ross Britton at rbritton@thehistorypress.co.uk or alternatively on Tel: 01453 732505. I do think that The History Press have done a great job with this book, and I'm hoping that readers will agree.

Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories
A Murder Squad Anthology

Edited by Martin Edwards
To be published 3rd October 2011, £6.99 Paperback Original, 978-0-7524-6300-1
Also available in Ebook

A collection of murderous tales from the countries
premier crime fiction writers

Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories showcases a group of highly regarded, award winning crime writers who all share a special passion for crime, which is reflected in this superb new volume. Funny and sad, atmospheric and dark, ingenious and frightening, each of the thirteen stories in this collection will keep you guessing to the very end. From the creepy undertones of Riviera to the mystery of The Habit of Silence, this Murder Squad anthology has something for crime fiction lovers everywhere.

• Foreword by Barry Forshaw, editor of Crime Time magazine.
• Includes previously unpublished material written especially for this anthology.
• Murder Squad was the first ‘virtual collective’ of British crime writers.
• Includes award winning authors, such as Ann Cleeves, creator of the ITV drama series Vera starring Brenda Blethyn.

MURDER SQUAD are a group of leading crime fiction writers comprising Stuart Pawson, Martin Edwards, Margaret Murphy, Chaz Brenchley, Cath Staincliffe and Ann Cleeves. Murder Squad was set up in 2000 by Margaret Murphy, and since then Ann has won the CWA Gold Dagger, Martin has won the CWA Short Story Dagger, and Ann and Cath have had their books successfully adapted for television. All of them have been published internationally and between them they have published over 80 novels, and over 70 short stories. Martin has edited 20 crime anthologies.

Visit http://bit.ly/rcp39T for a free online sampler of ‘Best Eaten Cold’; including a piece by Martin Edwards on his writing experiences, and 2 extracts from the 13 stories.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Martin - Congratulations! You are an excellent teller of short stories, and the rest of the lineup looks terrific, too.

seana graham said...

Congratulations, Martin. I happen to be reading the latest Jakubowski Best British Mysteries and am finding it and excellent, varied and very enjoyable collection.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Congratulations, Martin! Lots of good news for you. :)

pattinase (abbott) said...

Congratulations, Martin. I'm sure it's terrific.

Martin Edwards said...

Thanks very much, everyone.

Alexander said...

Interesting post!! I really like this site, and hope you will write more.

Fresh Garden said...

Excellent! Congrats!!

Paul Beech said...

Martin – Congratulations on the double-success of ‘Clutter’! I see from your Short Stories page that it’s listed as psychological suspense, a genre I’m very drawn to. The development of nail-biting suspense within the confines of a short story is high art, but I know you have the skills to pull it off and can’t wait to read this one.

Much as I love novels, I’m equally fond of short stories, “the watchmaker’s trade revised for words,” as James Ellroy called them in his introduction to ‘The Best American Mystery Stories 3’. So I’m delighted, also, to see that ‘Best Eaten Cold’ will be out next week. Great title: I know it’s from one of Stuart Pawson’s contributions. Of course it comes originally from the old French proverb, “la vengeance se mange très-bien froide” (“revenge is a dish best served cold”). It’s a proverb that packs quite a punch, as I’m sure the stories in the anthology do. I shall order my copy ASAP!

One query before I close. I note you’ve written several short stories featuring Harry Devlin; have you produced any yet featuring Daniel and Hannah from your Lake District series, or plans to do so?

Good luck with the new anthology.

Regards, Paul

Dorte H said...

Congratulations! Such great news.

Martin Edwards said...

Thanks, everyone.
Paul, fascinating comment as ever. Currently I don't have any plans for a Daniel/Hannah story. The Lakes books seem to feel different from the Devlins - Harry seemed to fit easily into short stories, whereas I'm not so sure about D and H. But you never know!