HC signs book on golden age of crime writing

HarperCollins has signed a book exploring the golden age of crime writing by author Martin Edwards.

World rights in The Golden Age of Murder: Solving the Mysteries of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story were signed in a deal with James Wills of Watson, Little.

The book will be a "real-life detective story" which looks at how Agatha Christie and her contemporaries writer's group the Detection Club revolutionised crime writing.

Edwards is the author of 17 crime novels and several non-fiction books, and is archivist for both the Detection Club and the Crime Writers' Association.

David Brawn, publisher of estates at HarperCollins said: "This ground-breaking study of detective fiction from between the wars captures how the social and political turbulence of the times impacted on authors and the appetites of their readers. Martin’s revelations about many of these colourful and turbulent writers, whose risky private lives inspired their more daring novels, provide a whole new insight into the generation of authors who created the prototypes for books we all still love today."

The Golden Age of Murder will be released as a hardback in May 2015.