"The Life of Crime" by Martin Edwards

If you want to know more about crime fiction, Martin Edwards is your man. His latest book, “The Life of Crime” is an extensive  (over 700 pages) history of the subject, sectioned off by books, radio, stage, movies and TV.When he’s not recording history, he’s madly writing—mystery novels, short stories and articles. He’s also president and archivist for the prestigious Detection Club, a British group of writers founded in 1930 by folks like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.Speaking from his native England, Edwards took time away from his writing to talk about, what else, crime novels with Steve Tarter.How did he get started with a life of crime, Tarter asked? Edwards, now 67, said when he was eight he saw a movie, not a terribly good one, but one that was based on an Agatha Christie story. From that point on he was hooked. “From that moment on, the two things I wanted to do were to read lots and lots of crime fiction and also to write it. I had a very specific ambition to be a crime novelist. I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to achieve that,” said Edwards.You might be interested to know that one of the founding members of the Detection Club was A.A. Milne, the author of “Winnie-the-Pooh.” Milne joined the illustrious group even though he only wrote one crime story, “The Red House Mystery,” a book that sold well in England, Edwards said.Whether the writers are new or old, Edwards believes there’s crime novel to fit all tastes. One of his next projects is a Liverpool mystery set in the 60s that may involve a certain musical group, Edwards suggested. He can’t say any more. It is a mystery, after all.