The Crime Writers Association (CWA) has named Andrew Martin’s The Somme Stations (Faber & Faber) the winner of its 2011 Ellis Peters Award. The award, which recognizes the best in historical crime fiction, takes its name from the pseudonym used by the author the Brother Cadfael mysteries, Edith Pargeter.
The Somme Stations, the seventh in Martin’s series featuring railway detective Jim Stringer, finds Stringer serving in the trenches in France during World War I. In a Nov. 30, 2011 press release, the CWA judges said of this work, “Martin’s novels featuring railway detective Jim Stringer reveal their treasures in subtle fashion with a winning synthesis of period atmosphere, intriguing plotting and a passion for steam railways.”
Additional titles in the Jim Stringer mystery series include The Necropolis Railway (2002), The Blackpool Highflyer (2004), The Lost Luggage Porter (2006), Murder at Deviation Junction (2007), Death on a Branch Line (2008) and The Last Train to Scarborough (2009). An eighth book, The Baghdad Railway Club, will be released in the U.S. in June 2012.
The CWA judges chose Martin’s novel from a shortlist of six titles. Rory Clements’ Prince (John Murray: John Shakespeare, book 3), Sam Eastland’s The Red Coffin (Faber & Faber: Inspector Pekkala, book 2), Gordon Ferris’s The Hanging Shed (Corvus), R.N. Morris’s The Cleansing Flames (Faber & Faber: (Porfiry Petrovich, book 4) and Imogen Robertson’s Island of Bones (Headline: Crowther and Westerman, book 3) were the other finalists.
CWA chair Peter James commented on the competition for the 2011 award. “Yet again, our judging panel had a tough task but after much deliberation came up with a truly worthy winner,” he said. “Historical crime fiction is certainly in a healthy position with so many talented writers at work.”
Other recent Ellis Peters Award winners include Rory Clements and Philip Kerr. Clements won in 2010; Kerr, in 2009.
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