DUE TO HIS CAREER as a solicitor, the writing career of Kenneth Martin Edwards (1955–) began with such thrilling volumes as Understanding Computer Contracts (1983) and Managing Redundancies (1986). Fortunately, his affection for crime fiction led to his writing All the Lonely People (1991), which introduced Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin, who is the protagonist of seven additional novels. That effort was nominated for the John Creasey Dagger by the (British) Crime Writers’ Association for best first novel. In addition to the Devlin novels, Edwards has written several novels about Detective Chief Inspector Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind that are set in the Lake District. He has also written Take My Breath Away (2002), a novel of psychological suspense, and Dancing for the Hangman (2008), a fictionalized version of the life of Hawley Harvey Crippen, the American physician hanged in a London prison in 1910 for murdering his wife. Edwards is an exceptional short-story writer, with more than forty to his credit, including “Test Drive,” nominated for a Dagger in 2005, and “The Bookbinder’s Apprentice,” which won a Dagger in 2008. Additionally, he has edited more than thirty mystery anthologies, reviewed crime fiction since 1987, and contributed to mystery fiction reference works. He was elected in 2008 to the prestigious Detection Club, the membership of which is reserved for the most distinguished mystery writers in the United Kingdom.
“Waiting for Godstow” was first published in The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes, edited by Mike Ashley (London, Robinson, 2000).