Finley Martin
Finley Martin was born in Binghamton, New York, and grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He received a B.A. degree in English at the University of Scranton, and during the 1960’s he served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps at posts in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Asia.
After returning to civilian life, he worked as a free-lance writer, PR consultant, and photographer, and became public relations director International Correspondence Schools.
In the 70’s he received an M.A. from the University of Ottawa and a B.Ed. from the University of Prince Edward Island. For many years he taught English literature at high school and writing courses at university. He has worked as truck driver, carpenter, boat builder, and deckhand aboard fishing vessels and passenger ferries. He has also been employed in private security and in guarding prisoners for the R.C.M.P.
During his writing career, he published numerous magazine and newspaper articles, poetry, and short stories in Canada and the U.S. He produced a mini-series for CBC radio and has given numerous public readings.
He authored six books: New Maritime Writing, (Square Deal Pub.), and A View from the Bridge (Town of Montague); three detective novels – The Reluctant Detective, The Dead Letter, and Killings at Little Rose, all published by Acorn Press; and a nautical memoir, Sailing in Circles, Goin’ Somewhere, published by Nimbus Publishing. His writing continues to this day…
Read My Books
Killings at Little Rose
In a coastal village where what’s been buried doesn’t stay buried, what’s lost at sea doesn’t stay lost.
Sleuth Anne Brown finds herself in an eastern PEI fishing community, working undercover for the new owner of a seafood-processing plant plagued by vandalism, loss, and ill luck. The community around Little Rose Harbour has been shocked by the discovery of old, secret remains of a baby, and all their entangled secrets are coming to the surface.
On the cusp of a clandestine love affair and herself keeping secrets, Anne must sort through gossip, rumours, and lies—and dodge the menace of violence—to uncover the canker at the core of Little Rose.
But will she learn in time to prevent the mystery from becoming motive for murder?
Available in Canada at Amazon.ca, Indigo! and Bookmark. Available in the USA at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and BAM!
Sailing in Circles, Goin’ Somewhere
Not all dreams have happy endings. Sailing in Circles, Goin’ Somewhere is the funny, bittersweet memoir of a Prince Edward Island man who, over seven years, builds a classic 1930s wooden sailboat and, in 2004, attempts to circumnavigate eastern North America. The author leaves a small fishing port on the Island and tracks along the rugged coast, up the St. Lawrence River, and through the Great Lakes. Alone, he encounters heavy fog, near-collisions with freighters, mechanical breakdowns, enormous seas, several brushes with disaster, and even a hostile reception at one French-speaking port. He meets odd and curious people. It all comes to an inglorious and mundane end when the author and his boat, the Arja D., are stuck in, of all places, Peoria, Illinois. Was it worth it? Maybe. Written by Finley Martin, a respected Island fiction writer, this finely crafted and humorous book will appeal to adventurers, sailors, and lovers of a good yarn. Available in Canada at Amazon.ca, Indigo! and Bookmark. Available in the USA at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and BAM!
The Dead Letter
It is 2001 and the police constable’s girlfriend is murdered in a fit of jealous rage. When the constable realizes what he has done, he manages an elaborate cover-up. Only one person knows the truth.
Flash forward to 2012. Anne Brown is still running her late uncle, Bill Darby’s, detective agency after spending four or five years as his assistant. One day, the postman delivers an eleven year-old letter. The letter is addressed to her uncle from a woman named Carolyn Jollimore. She says she has evidence about a murder and begs for help from Darby. But Bill Darby is dead. And when Anne looks up the letter’s author, she finds that Jollimore too is now dead. Troubled with the evidence at hand, Anne must decide if she should investigate this eleven-year old murder.
Available in Canada at Amazon.ca, Indigo! and Bookmark. Available in the USA at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and BAM!
The Reluctant Detective
A young widow, orphan and mother, Wilhelmina Anne Brown is just beginning to find some stability in her new home in Prince Edward Island when she is forced to deal with the death of her beloved uncle, Bill Darby. Darby, a Charlottetown private investigator, leaves Anne and her fourteen-year-old daughter a small savings account and his business, where Anne has worked as office manager for six years. What follows is Anne’s struggle to protect her family, find justice for her clients, and forge a new life for herself in this page-turning thriller. Available in Canada at Amazon.ca, Indigo! and Bookmark. Available in the USA at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and BAM!