The Coffin Trail
By Martin Edwards

        Britain’s Lake District is the lovely, and somehow also darkly menacing locale for this story, which begins brightly enough when Daniel Kind and his new paramour, Miranda, take a well-deserved holiday among the rugged cliffs, steep ravines, and cold, deep lakes girdled by the Coffin Trail, a road used centuries before to transport the bodies of hill residents to the church for burial. Not entirely on impulse, the couple decides to buy the old Tarn Cottage in Brackdale, a pleasantly rustic but ramshackle house that needs a good bit of rehabbing. Daniel has been an up-and-comer at Cambridge, and Miranda writes pop culture magazine features. Both hope to escape the pressures of modern life with a move to the country.

    Daniel, however, brings an unhappy history with him. His late father, once a constable in Brackdale, abandoned Daniel, his sister, and their mother for another woman, decades before. Daniel hopes to learn more about his father from local residents. And then there’s Tarn Cottage itself--once the home of Barrie Gilpin, also long-dead and accused of a horrendous sex-murder that took place years before amongst the rugged clefts and fastnesses. As a child, Daniel had briefly known Barrie--a gawky, quirky kid, but whom Daniel cannot accept as a cold-blooded murderer. Miranda objects to Daniel raking up the unfortunate past, and sure enough, his probing leads to a present-day murder.

      Martin Edwards’ prose crackles with British phrases and attitude. All the characters are finely drawn, with many conjuring the English tradition of eccentricity for its own sake. This is an engaging story, well told. While mystery buffs everywhere will enjoy The Coffin Trail, Anglophiles will find it especially appealing.