Martina Cole Popular Books
Martina Cole Biography & Facts
Eilidh Martina Cole is a British crime writer. As of 2021 she has released twenty-six novels about crime, most of which examine London's gangster underworld. Four of her novels, Dangerous Lady, The Jump, The Take and The Runaway have been adapted into high-rating television dramas. She has achieved sales of over fourteen million in the UK alone and her tenth novel, The Know, spent seven weeks on The Sunday Times hardback best-sellers list. Early life Cole was born in Essex, England, to Irish Catholic parents, and was the youngest of five children. Her mother was a psychiatric nurse from Glasnevin, County Dublin and her father was a merchant seaman from Cork City. Her cousin is the Cork politician Denis Cregan. She was expelled from her convent school aged 15 after allegedly being caught reading a Harold Robbins novel. She married for the first time aged 16, but the marriage only lasted a year. She had her first child at the age of 18. Her parents both died when she was in her early 20s. Prior to her literary success, Cole had a variety of low-paid jobs, including working as a cleaner, a wine waitress, an agency nurse and a supermarket shelf-stacker. Career Writing Cole's breakthrough came in 1991, when her manuscript for Dangerous Lady was accepted by the literary agent Darley Anderson and sold for a record £150,000. The book was published by Headline the following year. Most of her novels feature a female protagonist or antihero, and some take place within the Irish community in and around London. In December 2011, readers using madaboutbooks.co.uk voted their favourite Martina Cole book. The Take won by 780 votes and was put at the top of the list of Martina Cole novels. Goodnight Lady came second, followed in third by Maura's Game. Cole received the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association in 2021. Television A four-part TV adaptation of Dangerous Lady was broadcast on ITV in 1995, and in 1998 ITV broadcast a four-part adaptation of The Jump. The Take was serialised on British television on Sky1 in June 2009, which starred Tom Hardy as Freddie. Sky1 has also commissioned an adaptation of The Graft, which has yet to go into production. In March 2011 The Runaway, was shown on Sky1 and Sky1 HD. It is based on Cole's 1997 novel of the same name. In 2008 Martina Cole presented a drama documentary series on ITV3 called Martina Cole's Lady Killers, which told the story of six of history's most notorious female serial killers, including Myra Hindley, Beverly Allitt and Rose West. Cole explored the reasons why women kill, and why society is surprised when they do. Each programme told the story of an individual killer with expert analysis and dramatic reconstruction. The programme proved to be a ratings hit for ITV3 and transferred to ITV1 in 2009. Cole filmed an investigative documentary, Martina Cole Girl Gangs: Los Angeles for Sky1 in 2009. This focused on the role of girls in these gangs, which have been responsible for crimes ranging from drug dealing and car theft to robbery and murder. In 2014 she appeared in a documentary about Holloway Prison, called Inside Holloway. Additionally, she has appeared on ITV's This Morning, The Crime Thriller Club, The Wright Stuff for Channel 5, ITV's popular daytime show Loose Women, The One Show and two episodes of Pointless Celebrities for BBC One, and a 2004 edition of The Culture Show. Along with TV executive producer, Barry Ryan, Cole co-owns the film and television production company "2 Queens". Theatre Three of Cole's novels have been adapted for the stage by the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London: Two Women in 2010; The Graft in 2011, and Cole's first novel, Dangerous Lady in 2012. Other interests In 2011 Cole founded her own record label, Hostage Music. The London-based band Alabama3 has signed up to the label. Personal life Cole lives in a Grade II listed, 15th-century manor house near Sevenoaks, Kent. She also has a house in northern Cyprus. She remarried in the 1990s, but the marriage ended in divorce. She had her second child when she was 39. Cole regularly holds creative writing classes in UK prisons. She is a patron of the single-parent charity Gingerbread, and also a patron of Women's Aid. Since her 20s she has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis after breaking both arms as a child. The arthritis has worsened over time, and now makes it painful for her when writing. Books Dangerous Lady (1992) The Ladykiller (1993) Goodnight Lady (1994) The Jump (1995) The Runaway (1997) Two Women (1999) Broken (2000) Faceless (2001) Maura's Game (2002) The Know (2003) The Graft (2004) The Take (2005) Close (2006) Faces (2007) The Business (2008) Hard Girls (2009) The Family (2010) The Faithless (2011) The Life (2012) Revenge (2013) The Good Life (2014) Get Even (2015) Betrayal (2016) Damaged (2017) No Mercy (2019) Loyalty (2023) Videograph Martina Cole's Double Bill: The Jump & Dangerous Lady (2006) The Take (2009) The Runaway (2011) References External links Martina Cole at IMDb Official Martina Cole website The Take at sky.com The Runaway at Sky.com. Discover the Martina Cole popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Martina Cole books.
Best Seller Martina Cole Books of 2024
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The Mother
Jaime RavenI’ve taken your daughter, as punishment for what you did …Prepare to be gripped by the heartstopping new thriller from the author of The Madam. South London detective Sarah Mason i...
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Frozen Grave
Lee WeeksGRIPPING AND FASTPACED CRIME FICTION FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF DEAD OF WINTER AND COLD KILLERS. Someone has a list of victims. And they're crossing the na...
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Watch Him Die
Craig RobertsonNOMINATED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2020 FOR SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Truly difficult to put down’ Daily Mail 'Highconcept plot keeps the 'tecs and the ...
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The Betrayal
Kate Furnivall'A real pageturner which puts you in France on the cusp of war from the very first page. Gripping. Tense. Mysterious. Kate Furnivall has a talent for creating places and characters...
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The Club
Mandasue Heller'One of the bad girls of gritty crime' Daily Mirror It's the hottest new night club in town. . . ARE YOU IN? Jenna Lorde knows she's taking on a challenge when she inherits her dad...
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Lake Child
Isabel AshdownYou trust your family. They love you. Don't they?When 17yearold Eva Olsen awakes after a horrific accident that has left her bedbound, her parents are right by her side. Devoted, t...
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Western Approaches
Graham HurleyA body. A policeman. Over the edge...The launch of a stunning crime series from the author of LAST FLIGHT TO STALINGRADNo one liked Jake Kinsey. A rich man, he turned up out of now...
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Good Friday
Lynda La PlanteBefore Prime Suspect there was Tennison this was her storyIn the race to stop a deadly attack just pray she's not too late . . . March, 1976. The height of The Troubles. An I...
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Dark Spaces
Helen Black'HELP US'Lilly Valentine tries to help a damaged teenager but has she been horrifically abused, or is she lying to save her own skin?Lilly Valentine is not in a happy place. In th...
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Eagle Trap
Geoffrey ArcherRevenge is not a possibility, but a certainty.He was head of an international drugs ring, a kidnapper and a ruthless killer. One night British Sea Harriers reduced his Beirut headq...
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The Honeytrap
Roberta KrayThe Honeytrap was previously published in 4 separate ebook parts.This is the whole novella, combined in ebook for the first time.'A cracking good read' JESSIE KEANE'Well into Marti...
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The Four Symbols
Giacometti & RavenneFrom multimillion copy bestselling authors Giacometti & Ravenne comes a Nazi spy thriller for fans of Dan Brown, Steve Berry and Wilbur Smith"I couldn't put it down ... the aut...
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Strong Women
Roberta KrayA gripping, gritty thriller that goes 'well into Martina Cole territory' by the widow of one of the East End's most notorious gangsters (Independent)Jo Strong is the youngest widow...
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For the Dead
Lina BengtsdotterDI Charlie Lager returns to investigate a longburied disappearance in this 'atmospheric', 'evocative' and 'arresting' pageturner of a procedural from the new Swedish queen of crime...
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The Order of Things
Graham HurleyThe fourth novel in the Jimmy Suttle series, from 'one of the UK's finest crime novelists' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY), author of LAST FLIGHT TO STALINGRAD'There is noone writing bette...
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Die Alone
Simon KernickHold on tight Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick the UK's answer to Harlan Coben has done it again. This is a noholdsbarred, pulsepounding thriller which will have yo...
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Vanished
Lynda La PlanteThe upallnight new Detective Jack Warr thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of BURIED and JUDAS HORSE.When an eccentric elderly widow claims she is being stalked, Dete...
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Dirty Little Lies
John MackenThis compelling and gripping novel by bestselling author John Macken takes the forensic thriller to the next level. Perfect for fans of Kathy Reichs, Karin Slaughter and Patricia C...
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The Krays - The Final Countdown
Colin FryThe Krays were a product of their age, nurtured by a doting mother and created by their community, the East End of London. Their name alone conjures up images of power, violence an...
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For the Lost
Lina BengtsdotterA MISSING CHILD In Karlstad, ninemonthold Beatrice is missing from her pram. Her parents are in shock and the media is in a frenzy. A PERSONAL STRUGGLE DI Charlie Lager is strug...
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Touching Distance
Graham HurleyA killing without mercy. A crime with no motive. A thriller from the author of LAST FLIGHT TO STALINGRADThree random killings. Or something much, much worse? DS Jimmy Suttle is try...
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Cold as Ice
Lee WeeksGRIPPING AND FASTPACED CRIME FICTION FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FROZEN GRAVE AND COLD KILLERS. On a freezing cold winter's day, the body of a young woman is pulled from an icy ...
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No Lovelier Death
Graham Hurley'There is no one writing better police procedurals today.' Daily TelegraphTwo murdered teenagers. Both sides of the law are looking for the killer.But who will get there first?A te...
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The Know
Martina ColeHer child is missing but someone out there knows the truth...'Intensely readable' Guardian'Powerfully written fiction' The Times'The undisputed queen of British crime thrillers' He...
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Beyond Reach
Graham Hurley'There is no one writing better police procedurals today.' Daily TelegraphA brutal hitandrun killing opens the path to a 25yearold crime...Past midnight, a horribly mutilated body ...
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No Mercy
Roberta KrayMaddie Layne's life hasn't been the same since her sister was murdered. The police never found Greta's body so all Maddie was left with was unanswered questions and her orphaned n...
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One Under
Graham HurleyTwo crimes, two tangles of emotions and thwarted love...From the author of LAST FLIGHT TO STALINGRADA man is chained inside a tunnel and then dismembered and scattered along the tr...
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Severed
Simon KernickAn unputdownable, edgeofyourseat thriller full of twists and turns from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick the UK's answer to Harlan Coben. Guaranteed to keep you gripp...
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Framed
Ronnie O'SullivanFast paced and full of grit, this is the first crime novel from the UK's most charismatic sporting genius.WHEN THE GAME IS MURDER, YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE.An innocent man. Frankie...
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Love Me Not
M. J. ArlidgeTHE GRIPPING DI HELEN GRACE THRILLER BY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR M. J. ARLIDGE'Nailbiting . . . full of twists and turns' 5 READER REVIEW'The writing grabs you and pulls...
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A Demon in My View
Ruth RendellArthur Johnson doesn't look like a murderous psychopath; he is a mildmannered man who has never known how to talk to women. Years of loneliness has warped his mind, turning his des...
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The Other Couple
Sarah J. NaughtonTHE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'I am sleep deprived having stayed awake desperate to find out what happened!' reader reviewFor fans of Clare Mackintosh's LET ME LIE, Cara Hunter's CLOSE...
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The Soul of the Robot
Barrington J. BayleyHe was unique. Alone in a world that did not understand him, he tested the super powers of his mind and body. More than a machine, but less than a man, he searched restlessly for t...
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Call the Shots
Sam TobinGet ready to meet the toughest, deadliest, and most calculated players in Manchester's murky underworld...HE'S GOT EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL.You don't know Craig Malton. Hopefully y...
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Death Trap
Dreda Say MitchellFROM THE BESTSELLING AND CRITICALLYACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF SPARE ROOM, GANGLAND GIRLS TRLIOGY and the FLESH AND BLOOD SERIESDreda Say Mitchell was awarded an MBE in Her Majesty The Que...
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Deadlight
Graham Hurley'There is no one writing better police procedurals today.' Daily TelegraphA twentyyearold crime throws DI Joe Faraday into the violent legacy of the Falklands War...Freshly promote...
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The Witness
Simon KernickThis engrossing and unputdownable fastpaced thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick, the UK's answer to Harlan Coben, is perfect for fans of David Baldacci, Stu...
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We Can See You
Simon KernickIf you like David Baldacci, Stuart MacBride and Peter James, you'll love this frighteningly tense, spinetingling thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick the UK...
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The Fall of Chronopolis
Barrington J. BayleyThe mighty ships of the Third Time Fleet relentlessly patrolled the Chronotic Empire's thousandyear frontier, blotting out an error of history here or there before swooping back to...
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The Secret
Deric HendersonThe killer dentist, his mistress, how they murdered their spouses and how they almost got away with it. Now a major fourpart ITV drama starring James Nesbitt: 'Unswitchoffable' Gu...
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Cold Grave
Craig Robertson'Robertson is doing for Glasgow what Rankin did for Edinburgh' Mirror1993. Scotland is in the grip of an icecold winter and the Lake of Menteith is frozen over. A young man and wom...
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The Driver
Mandasue Heller'One of the bad girls of gritty crime' Daily Mirror When you play with fire, everyone gets burned . . .Joe Weeks is new to the Grange Estate. Tolerant, doesn't mind a bit of weed, ...
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Denial
Peter JamesIntroducing policeman Glenn Branson...When actress Gloria Lamark takes her own life, her devoted son, Thomas, is heartbroken. Something must be wrong with a world in which such a t...
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Pay the Price
Sam TobinThe deadliest criminals of Manchester's murky underworld are back in an explosive new book!GOOD GIRLS When Fauzia's brother turns up with a dead body, her perfect life is shattere...
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Target
Simon KernickSunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick, the UK's answer to Harlan Coben, brings us this spinetingling, compelling and captivating thriller that you won't be able to put down...
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The Final Minute
Simon KernickSimon Kernick, the UK's answer to Harlan Coben, has written a thriller jampacked withaction, tension and twists and turns. A heartstopping read from page one, this is perfect for f...
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Borrowed Light
Graham Hurley'There is no one writing better police procedurals today.' Daily TelegraphFour charred bodies. One killer. A race against time...DI Joe Faraday is convalescing after a serious inju...
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One Bad Turn
Sinéad CrowleyHow could your good friend become your worst enemy? I lost my child because of you, my only child. Eileen and Heather have always looked out for each other. But two years ago Eilee...
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Deadline
Simon KernickA captivating and taut thriller that will leave you holding your breath, from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick, the UK's answer to Harlan Coben.'The next time I see Si...
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The Peter James Collection
Peter JamesTHREE PETER JAMES TITLES IN ONE!TwilightThree muffled thuds ring from the partially filled grave of the newly wed girl.Only the verger hears them and he dismisses the noise as his ...