Ex-Free Press reporter Nick Martin loved a good thriller

Former Free Press reporter Nick Martin, who wrote the monthly suspense column in the books section and was prolific in his standalone reviews of mystery/thriller novels, died Oct. 15 at age 77 while on holiday in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Nick began his journalism career in 1971 at the London Free Press before working at the Winnipeg Free Press as a reporter from 1989 until his retirement in June 2018, with a later focus on the education beat.

In January 2015, Nick took on the role of monthly suspense columnist in the Free Press books section, continuing even after he and his wife Lyn moved to Victoria, B.C., to be closer to family in 2020.

Nick was open about his struggles with Parkinson’s disease in later years, which was tough for a guy who liked to get his daily steps in and refereed soccer games even after retirement.

But it rarely seemed to slow him down when it came to reading and reviewing mystery novels — in his 10 years writing reviews and the suspense column, it would be rare to go a week without seeing his byline somewhere in the books pages. He was a voracious reader who tore through the books sent to him, as well as multiple library holds he always had on the go.

As for reviews, nobody wrote them quite like Nick. For this reader (and his editor), his conversational, folksy style took a bit of getting used to — he’d never have gotten away with it as a reporter. But in reviewing suspense novels, it proved charming (though it often skirted Canadian Press style guidelines). Nick always ended his reviews with a customized, often-hilarious byline that added to his charm on the page and pleased his many fans.

That Nick died in the home of many of his favourite mystery writers — Sir Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Stuart MacBride, to name a few — is the smallest of consolations. Here’s hoping he got to hoist one last pint at the Oxford Bar, a regular haunt of Rankin and his beloved Insp. John Rebus.

— Ben Sigurdson