04/18/2022
In the tantalizing opening of Edgar winner Edwards’s intriguing eighth mystery featuring Det. Chief Insp. Hannah Scarlett (after 2015’s The Dungeon House), cold case specialist Hannah asks an unidentified person why they killed Ramona Smith. Flash back 21 years. Smith, a barmaid, has vanished. Though her body hasn’t been found, the police, led by Det. Insp. Ben Kind, the father of Hannah’s lover and colleague, Daniel, are convinced she’s been murdered. Kind charges Gerry Lace, but Lace is acquitted at trial. Lace later dies by suicide by walking into the sea, leaving behind a note blaming his death on police harassment. Twenty years later, on the anniversary of that tragedy, Lace’s son, Darren, kills himself in the same way at the same spot on the coast. This new tragedy reattracts attention to the Smith case, a puzzle that Hannah must unravel, even if that means proving that Kind got it wrong. Edwards makes engagement easy through crisp prose and thoughtful characterizations. This skillful combination of procedural and whodunit will prompt newcomers to seek out earlier series entries. Agent: James Wills, Watson Little (U.K.). (June)
"Edwards deftly weaves the multiple plots into a cohesive, quirky story with a smart heroine, fascinating insights into Lake District history, and a stunning conclusion." — Booklist
"There’s intrigue...Edwards juggles all the subplots with a master’s hand and even produces a pair of utterly surprising candidates for the title role. Welcome back, Cold Case Review Team. Please don’t wait seven years for the next update." — Kirkus Reviews
"Edwards makes engagement easy through crisp prose and thoughtful characterizations. This skillful combination of procedural and whodunit will prompt newcomers to seek out earlier series entries." — Publishers Weekly
"[R]eaders who appreciate an atmospheric story with a strong sense of place will be satisfied." — Library Journal
"Martin Edwards is the modern grand master of English mystery writing. His literary command of character development and setting is on full display in the gripping plot of The Girl They All Forgot, as it races toward a conclusion you’ll never see coming." — Jeffrey Siger, author of the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series
"Life is certainly nasty, brutish, and short—at least for most of the characters in Edwards’s much-awaited new installment, set on the edge of England’s Lake District. DVI Hannah Scarlett is in charge of cold cases...[and as she] digs deeper into the evidence of the past, and confronts the present, readers have the pleasure of seeing such a complex narrative effortlessly resolve itself. For readers of Ann Cleeves, Mark Billingham, and Clare Donoghue." — First Clue
"The Girl They All Forgot, Martin Edwards’s eighth Lake District Mystery, seethes with a foreboding of violence, even as it looks back at a long-buried cold case of murder. The Crooked Shore, accursed scene of the crime, looms ever-present with malicious intent. Magnificently creepy estate agents, stop-at-nothing gigolos, and lustful widows with bags of cash make this a tense and irresistibly gripping read. It will suck you in like the Crooked Shore’s murderous quicksand. No use struggling against it. You’ll lose. Brilliant." — James W. Ziskin, author of the award-winning Ellie Stone Mysteries
04/18/2022
When Darren Lace drowns himself by walking into Morecombe Bay, the new Police and Crime Commissioner Kit Gleadall pushes for an investigation. The Cumbria Constabulary has a small cold case review team headed by DCI Hannah Scarlett, and Gleadall promises her several new team members. Twenty-one years earlier, Ramona Smith left work one night and was not seen again. Darren Lace's father, Gerry, was the primary suspect in the case. Although he was acquitted, he lost his business, and his family was ruined. He drowned himself, and now his son has done the same. Hannah's mentor was the lead detective in the case against Gerry Lace, but he's dead now, killed by a hit-and-run driver. Now it's up to Hannah and her team to dig into the cold case in a community where everyone has an opinion or knew the missing woman. VERDICT Seven years after The Dungeon House, Edwards returns to England's Lake District for a bleak, leisurely paced mystery. Some might find there are too many viewpoints represented in this novel, but readers who appreciate an atmospheric story with a strong sense of place will be satisfied.—Lesa Holstine
2022-03-16
After an unprecedented gap of seven years, the prolific Edwards returns to the Lake District, where another cold case awaits DCI Hannah Scarlett and her squad, last seen in The Dungeon House (2015).
When Bowness barmaid Ramona Smith vanished 21 years ago, her ex-lover Gerry Lace was arrested for her murder. Neither the not-guilty verdict in his trial nor his subsequent suicide brought closure to anyone but himself. Now that Gerry’s son, Darren, has walked into Morecambe Bay and drowned himself on the 20th anniversary of his father’s death at the same spot, Hannah’s new boss, Police and Crime Commissioner Kit Gleadall, offers Hannah two new appointments to her Cold Case Review Team if she’ll look again into Ramona’s disappearance and speak with Darren’s outraged ex-girlfriend, car mechanic Jade Hughes. In the meantime, estate agent Kingsley Melton, who watched Darren drown himself without making any attempt to rescue him, is having even more troubles than his questioning by the gimlet-eyed authorities. Tory Reece-Taylor, the trophy widow he sold a residence in Strandbeck Manor, has thrown him over for Logan Prentice, an IT consultant/pianist/actor Kingsley’s convinced has already murdered nursing home resident Ivy Podmore under the impression that she’d changed her will in his favor—and he’s convinced Prentice has equally greedy designs on Tory. There’s much more intrigue, down to the star-struck fan whom lawyer Louise Kind has lined up for her brother Daniel, who’s Hannah’s ex-lover, and Edwards juggles all the subplots with a master’s hand and even produces a pair of utterly surprising candidates for the title role.
Welcome back, Cold Case Review Team. Please don’t wait seven years for the next update.
