Martine’s debut, An Appetite for Violets, takes sharp-witted cook Biddy Leigh on a murderous trip to Italy. Fay Weldon described its mix of crime, gastronomy and history, as a new genre, the ‘culinary gothic’. It was a Booklist top ten crime fiction debut of the year. The Penny Heart (A Taste for Nightshade in the US) is a Sunday Times Best Summer Read that draws on cooking, trickery and revenge. The stars, riddles and murder align in The Almanack, a historical mystery featuring fifty authentic riddles. In its sequel, The Prophet, destiny and murder weave an intricate web around Tabitha’s new life.

Drawing on her experience in psychometric testing in the NHS, she has now created a chilling new crime series comprising Sharp Scratch and Isolation Ward, both set in northern England in the 1980s.

Married with one son, Martine lives in Cheshire, England, having lived for some years in New Zealand where she had a Creative Arts Scholarship. She was also Writer in Residence at Hosking Houses Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon and Hawkwood College, Stroud.

Her short story, ‘A Mouthful of Restaurant’, appears in the 2017 Crime Writers Association Anthology, ‘The Mystery Tour’.

Martine was longlisted for the Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing in 2020.