Martin was born in Gloucestershire in 1953, attended schools in Stroud and Gloucester and later Pembroke and Wolfson Colleges, Cambridge. He obtained an MA in History, but then pursued a legal career, becoming a partner in a leading solicitors' firm. Since turning to writing, he has published two historical novels: "To Catch the Conscience of the King" (about Edward II's fall from power) and "Life Unfinished" (about the life of the composer, Franz Schubert), and most recently a memoir about his early childhood in Gloucestershire ("The Cotswold Boy"). He currently lives part time in Sutton Coldfield, and part time in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland.