Andrew Martin (novelist) explained

Andrew Martin
Birth Date:	1962 7, df=yes
Birth Place:	York, Yorkshire, England
Occupation:	Novelist
Genre:	Crime Fiction
Notableworks:	Jim Stringer, Steam Detective

Andrew Martin (born 6 July 1962) is an English novelist, documentary maker, journalist and musician.

Martin was brought up in Yorkshire, studied at Merton College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister.^[1] He has since worked as a freelance journalist for a number of publications while writing novels, starting with Bilton, a comic novel about journalists, and The Bobby Dazzlers, a comic novel set in the North of England, for which he was named Spectator Young Writer of the Year.

The Guardian claimed Bilton and The Bobby Dazzlers "rank high in the lists of the best comic novels published in the past 10 years".^[2]

His series of detective novels about Jim Stringer, a railwayman reassigned to the North Eastern Railway police in Edwardian England, includes The Necropolis Railway (set on the real London Necropolis Railway), 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 Ellis Peters Historical Award 2011)^[3] and The Baghdad Railway Club.^[4]

In 2015, he released The Yellow Diamond, A Crime of the Super-Rich, a detective novel set in London's Mayfair. In summer 2017, he released 'Soot' an acclaimed crime novel set in 18th century York.^[5]

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.^[6]

Other non-fiction works include How to Get Things Really Flat;^[7] Ghoul Britannia and Flight by Elephant about Gyles Mackrell 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),^[8] Disappearing Dad, Fathers in Literature (2010),^[9] The Trains that Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys (2015),^[10] all in the Timeshift series, and three essay series for Radio 3, The Sound and The Fury (2013),^[11] England Ejects (2014), The Further Realm (2015).^[12] He also writes short stories for the Calm app.https://www.calm.com/narrators/EJG7W-SXX/andrew-martin

Martin writes and performs music under the name Brunswick Green.^[13]

Martin lives in north London with his wife and sons.

Bibliography

• Bilton. Faber & Faber. 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. .^[2]
• 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)
• The Night in Venice (as A.J. Martin), Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024 (ISBN 9781399608033)

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. 2012. ^{[14] [15]}
• Flight by Elephant, World War II's most Daring Jungle Mission. Fourth Estate. 2013.
• Belles & Whistles, Five Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains. Profile Books, 2014. .
• Night Trains, The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper, Profile Books, 2017
• Seats of London: A Field Guide to London Transport Moquette Patterns, Safe Haven Books, 2019
• Steam Trains Today: Journeys Along Britain's Heritage Railways, Profile Books, 2021 (ISBN 1788161440)
• Métropolitain: An Ode to the Paris Métro, Little, Brown, 2023^[16]

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Andrew Martin.
2. News: Marchant. Ian. Oysters and Bass. 10 January 2014. The Guardian. 11 September 2004.
3. Web site: Andrew Martin.
4. Web site: Andrew Martin home page. 23 July 2015.
5. Web site: The best recent crime novels – review roundup. . 25 August 2017.
6. Web site: Andrew Martin | the Guardian. .
7. Web site: How to Get Things Really Flat by Andrew Martin. 5 April 2012.
8. Web site: BBC Four - Timeshift, Series 8, Between the Lines - Railways in Fiction and Film.
9. Web site: BBC - BBC TV blog: Disappearing Dad: Is fiction better off without fathers?.
10. Web site: BBC Four - Timeshift, Series 15, the Trains That Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys.
11. Web site: BBC Radio 3 - the Essay, the Sound and the Fury.
12. Web site: BBC Radio 3 - the Essay, the Further Realm, the Further Realm: Episode 3.
13. Web site: Brunswick Green.
14. News: Fort. Tom. Underground Overground by Andrew Martin: review. 10 January 2014. The Daily Telegraph. 1 May 2012.
15. Web site: Self. Will. Underground, Overground by Andrew Martin – review. The Guardian. 10 January 2014. Will Self. 24 May 2012.
16. News: Meades . Jonathan . Skeletons, assassins and freaks – the secrets of the Paris Métro . 22 September 2023 . Daily Telegraph . 24 July 2023.