Martin published several books about the Victorian era, including biographies of Alfred Tennyson, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Edward Fitzgerald.
His life of Tennyson won the James Tait Black Award and the Duff Cooper Prize.
In addition to his scholarly works, Martin also authored one clever and humorous mystery entitled Deadly Meeting.
Deadly Meeting centers on the ongoing difficulties of operating the English Department at small (imaginary) Wilton University in New England ultimately leading to the murder of one of the professors.
Perhaps the most endearing character is the victim's visiting replacement, Dame Millicent Hetherege, a retired Oxford professor of medieval literature, particularly enamored of maximal salary and good scotch whisky who, of course, plays an essential part in the mystery's solution.