Local author's spine chiller

LYMM crime writer Martin Edwards’ latest Cumbrian spine-chiller has been published in paperback
“The Serpent Pool” is his 14th crime thriller and the fourth in his Cumbrian series following the fortunes of DCI Hannah Scarlett and Oxford historian Daniel Kind.
He launched the paperback at the Wordsworth Trust Arts and Book Festival, where he spoke about the novel at an event at the Wordsworth Hotel in Grasmere.
Martin said: “The Lake District is a place of constant fascination and inspiration to me. I am just finishing the fifth novel in the Cumbrian series called The Hanging Wood which will be published later this year.”
The Serpent Pool will also be translated into German and a paperback version will be printed in the United States, where he has a growing fan base.
The book draws heavily on the life and opium-inspired writings of Manchester-born Victorian author Thomas De Quincey. The book finds Daniel Kind writing about De Quincey who was editor of the Westmorland Gazette and a friend of William Wordsworth.
Critics say the book is the darkest of the four Lakes novels and possibly the “most rewarding.”
Martin says the book sees Scarlett and Kind become more definite about their feelings for each other than in previous novels.
The paperback is published in hardback by Allison & Busby, priced £5.59 and is available from all good bookshops, Amazon and www.allisonandbusby.com