Andrew Martin (born 6 July 1962) is an English novelist, documentary maker, journalist and musician.
Martin was brought up in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, studied at
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...
and qualified as a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
. He has since worked as a freelance journalist for a number of publications while writing novels, starting with ''Bilton'', a
comic novel
A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary ...
about journalists, and ''The Bobby Dazzlers'', a comic novel set in the North of England, for which he was named ''
Spectator
''Spectator'' or ''The Spectator'' may refer to:
*Spectator sport, a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches
*Audience
Publications Canada
* ''The Hamilton Spectator'', a Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, ...
'' Young Writer of the Year.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' claimed ''Bilton'' and ''The Bobby Dazzlers'' "rank high in the lists of the best comic novels published in the past 10 years".
His series of
detective novel
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
s about Jim Stringer, a railwayman reassigned to the
North Eastern Railway police in
Edwardian England
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
, includes ''The Necropolis Railway'' (set on the real
London Necropolis Railway
The London Necropolis Railway was a railway line opened in November 1854 by the London Necropolis Company (LNC), to carry corpses and mourners between London and the LNC's newly opened Brookwood Cemetery southwest of London in Brookwood, Sur ...
), ''The Blackpool Highflyer'', ''The Lost Luggage Porter'', ''Murder at Deviation Junction'', ''Death on a Branch Line'', ''The Last Train to Scarborough'', ''The Somme Stations'' (Winner of the
CWA
CWA or Cwa may refer to:
Organisations
* CWA Constructions, a Swiss manufacturer of gondolas and people mover cabins, a division of Doppelmayr Garaventa Group
* Catch Wrestling Association, a former German professional wrestling promotion
* Contin ...
Ellis Peters Historical Award 2011) and ''The Baghdad Railway Club''.
In 2015, he released ''The Yellow Diamond, A Crime of the Super-Rich'', a detective novel set in London's
Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
. In summer 2017, he released 'Soot' an acclaimed crime novel set in 18th century York.
He has also written a number of works of non-fiction. Railway-related titles include ''Underground Overground, A Passenger's History of the Tube;'' ''Belles and Whistles, Five Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains'' and ''Night Trains, The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper''.
Other non-fiction works include ''How to Get Things Really Flat''; ''Ghoul Britannia'' and ''Flight by Elephant'' about
Gyles Mackrell
__NOTOC__
Gyles Mackrell DFC GM (9 October 1888 – 20 February 1959) was a British tea planter known for organising a rescue of refugees retreating from the advancing Japanese across the Burma-India border during World War II.
Mackrell was ...
and his Burmese, elephant-assisted wartime rescue mission, published in 2013.
In addition, he is the editor of a dictionary of humorous quotations: ''Funny You Should Say That: A Compendium of Jokes, Quips and Quotations from Cicero to the Simpsons''.
His works for television and radio include: ''Between the Lines, Railways in Fiction and Film (2008)'', ''Disappearing Dad, Fathers in Literature (2010)'', ''The Trains that Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys'' (2015), all in the Timeshift series, and three essay series for
Radio 3, ''The Sound and The Fury'' (2013), ''England Ejects'' (2014), ''The Further Realm'' (2015). He also writes short stories for the Calm ap
Andrew writes and performs music under the nam
Brunswick Green
Andrew Martin lives in north London with his wife and sons.
Bibliography
*''Bilton''.
Faber & Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
. 1999. .
*''The Bobby Dazzlers''. Faber & Faber. 2002. .
*''The Yellow Diamond'', Faber & Faber, 2015.
* ''Soot'', Corsair, 2017 ()
* ''The Martian Girl'', Corsair, 2018 ()
* ''The Winker'', Corsair, 2019 ()
;Jim Stringer, Steam Detective, novels
*''The Necropolis Railway''. Faber & Faber. 2002. .
*''The Blackpool Highflyer''. Faber & Faber. 2005. .
[
*''The Lost Luggage Porter''. Faber & Faber. 2007. .
*''Murder at Deviation Junction''. Faber & Faber. 2008. .
*''Death on a Branch Line''. Faber & Faber. 2008. .
*''The Last Train to Scarborough''. Faber & Faber. 2009. .
*''The Somme Stations''. Faber & Faber. 2011. .
*''The Baghdad Railway Club''. Faber & Faber. 2012. .
*''Night Train to Jamalpur''. Faber & Faber. 2014. .
* 'Powder Smoke' (Jim Stringer Book 10), Corsair, 2021 (ISBN 1472154835)
;Non-fiction
*''How to Get Things Really Flat: A Man's Guide to Ironing, Dusting and Other Household Arts''. Short Books. 2008.
*''Funny You Should Say That: A Compendium of Jokes, Quips and Quotations from Cicero to the Simpsons''. Penguin 2006. .
*''Ghoul Britannia, Notes on a Haunted Island''. Short Books. 2009.
*''Underground, Overground: A Passenger's History of the Tube''. ]Profile Books
Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current events, current affairs, travel and popular science.
Profile Books is distribu ...
. 2012.
References
External links
Review of ''The Lost Luggage Porter''
2011 Interview Shotsmag Ezine "The Railway Detective Goes to War"
Review of ''The Somme Stations'' in Shotsmag Ezine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Andrew
1962 births
Living people
21st-century English novelists
English crime fiction writers
English editors
English male journalists
Alumni of Merton College, Oxford
People from York
English male novelists
21st-century English male writers
Writers from Yorkshire