Our Authors

Miranda Rijks

Miranda Rijks is a writer of fast-paced, twisty psychological thrillers many of which have been Amazon bestsellers. She has an eclectic background ranging from law to running a garden centre. After surviving bone cancer, Miranda turned to writing and is now living the dream, writing suspense novels full time. She lives in West Sussex, England with her Dutch husband and two black Labradors and spends as much time as she can in the Swiss Alps.


www.mirandarijks.com

 

OMJ Ryan

Hailing from Yorkshire, OMJ Ryan worked in radio and entertainment for over twenty years, collaborating with household names and accumulating a host of international writing and radio awards. In 2018 he followed his passion to become a full-time novelist, writing stories for people who devour exciting, fast-paced thrillers by the pool, on their commute – or those rare moments of downtime before bed. Owen’s mission is to entertain from the first page to the last.

www.omjryan.com

 

 

Cathryn Grant

Cathryn Grant writes psychological thrillers, psychological suspense, and ghost stories. She’s the author of twenty-three novels. She’s loved crime fiction all her life and is endlessly fascinated by the twists and turns, and the dark corners of the human mind.

When she’s not writing, Cathryn reads fiction, eavesdrops, and tries to play golf without hitting her ball into the sand or the water. She lives on the Central California coast with her husband and two cats.

www.cathryngrant.com

 

TJ Brearton

T.J. Brearton’s books have reached half a million readers around the world and have topped the Amazon charts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. A graduate of the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, Brearton first worked in film before focusing on novels. His books are visually descriptive with sharp dialog and underdog heroes. When not writing, Brearton does whatever his wife and three children tell him to do. They live happily in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate, New York. Yes, there are bears in the Adirondacks. But it’s really quite beautiful when you’re not running for your life.

 

www.tjbrearton.net

 

 

Jane Renshaw

As a child, Jane spent a lot of time in elaborate Lego worlds populated by tiny plastic animals and people. Crime levels were high, especially after the Dragon brothers set themselves up as vets and started murdering the animals in their ‘care’. (They got away with it by propping the victims up with Plasticine and pretending they were still alive…)

As an adult, she is still playing in imaginary worlds and putting her characters through hell – but now she can call it ‘writing’ and convince herself that she is doing something sensible. In real life, she has a PhD in genetics and copy-edits scientific and medical journals.

www.janerenshaw.co.uk

 

 

Jackie Morrissey

Jackie Morrissey lives in County Dublin and worked for many years in adult education. Her job took her into colleges and prisons all around Ireland, and introduced her to a range of interesting people. She loved the buzz of teaching, but came to hate the tyranny of correcting assignments.

She has written throughout her adult life and has had many short stories published, one of which won the Molly Keane Short Story award. She has also been a regular contributor of short pieces for the Irish radio program Sunday Miscellany. The psychological thriller Before I Die is her first published novel.

 

Cameron Curtis

Cameron Curtis has spent thirty years on trade floors as a trader and risk manager. He was on the trade floor when Saddam’s tanks rolled into Kuwait, when the air wars opened over Baghdad and Belgrade, and when the financial crisis swallowed the world. Having written fiction as a child, he is the author of the Breed action thriller series.

 

Tina Pritchard

After a life dedicated to bringing up a family, taking a social science degree, working as a lecturer, a trainer and more recently an independent celebrant, Tina addressed her burning need to write a novel. In a Deep Dark Wood reflects her belief that scratching below the surface of ordinary lives can reveal a rich seam of material.

Tina loves to write and has won competitions for some of her short stories and poetry. She lives in a beautiful part of the world and gains much of her inspiration from walking her badly behaved terrier Horace, in the Derbyshire countryside.

 

Paul Heatley

Paul Heatley left school at sixteen, and since then has held a variety of jobs including mechanic, carpet fitter, and bookshop assistant, but his passion has always been for writing. He writes mostly in the genres of crime fiction and thriller, and links to his other titles can be found on his website. He lives in the north east of England.

www.PaulHeatley.com

 

Trevor Negus

Trevor Negus is a retired Police Officer who spent 30 years working with Nottinghamshire
Police. He worked both inner city and rural beats in uniform and spent the entire duration of the Miners’ Strike of 1984 on a Police Support Unit.
He then spent six years as an authorised firearms officer and was a sniper on the force’s Special Operations Unit. The last eleven years of his Police career were spent as a detective on the CID, where he was involved in numerous murder enquiries. During his time on the CID he was trained as a specialist interviewer, involved in the planning and interviews of murder suspects.

www.trevornegus-author.com

Daniel Hurst

Daniel Hurst writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.

danielhurstbooks.com

Kevin Lynch

Kevin is a Guidance Counselor by day and a psychological thriller author during his off hours. He puts an original slant on some common experiences and creates engaging stories with a personal twist. Kevin lives in Dublin, Ireland with three great kids, a frenetic Westie, Alfie, and a wife who makes him laugh, which is really all he could ask for.

Nora Valters

Nora Valters grew up in the New Forest in the south of England and has lived in London, Manchester, Bournemouth, Oxford and Dubai.
She studied English Literature and Language at Oxford Brookes University before embarking on a career in marketing and copywriting.
Her debut psychological thriller was published in 2020 and she’s been writing ever since.
Nora loves to travel and has journeyed around the world. She enjoys exploring new places, painting, hiking, and is an avid reader. She’s also a bit obsessed with dogs…www.noravalters.com

O.C.S. Francis

O.C.S. Francis writes psychological thrillers and suspense novels that explore the darker corners of our lives and minds. He was born in Bristol and studied Human Sciences at Oxford. He has worked in academia, healthcare, television research, feature film development and as a telephone mystery shopper. He lives in Cambridge, UK with his wife and son. He relaxes by playing the piano and taking photographs.

www.ocsfrancis.com

Ruth Harrow

Ruth Harrow was born and raised in England and graduated from university before embarking on an unfulfilling career in an office job. She eventually put pen to paper and her debut psychological thriller, In Her Footsteps, was published in 2018. It quickly became a bestseller. Following the success of her first novel, her second and third books followed shortly afterwards. She lives in the UK with her husband, two children and chocolate Labrador, Rolo.

ruthharrow.com

JJ Burgess

JJ Burgess has a degree in Economics and lives in Bristol with his wife and two sons. By day he is the Director of a greetings card company, by night he writes psychological thrillers that ask questions about the world we live in. When he isn’t writing, he is usually running through the woods around Bristol, thinking of new characters and dark plots.

Iain Maitland

Iain Maitland is the author of three previous psych thrillers, The Scribbler (2020), Mr Todd’s Reckoning (2019) and Sweet William (2017), all published by Contraband, an imprint of Saraband.
The Girl Downstairs was published by Inkubator Books in 2021
Iain is also the author of two memoirs, Dear Michael, Love Dad (Hodder, 2016), a book of letters written to his eldest son who experienced depression and anorexia, and (co-authored with Michael) Out Of The Madhouse (Jessica Kingsley, 2018).
He is also an Ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity. He talks regularly about mental health issues in schools and colleges and workplaces.

www.iainmaitland.net

Emily Shiner

Emily Shiner always dreamed of becoming an author but first served her time as a banker and a teacher. After a lifetime of devouring stacks of thrillers, she decided to try her hand at writing them herself. Now she gets to live out her dream of writing novels and sharing her stories with people around the world. She lives in the Appalachian Mountains and loves hiking with her husband, daughter, and their two dogs.

Jan Durham

Jan lives just outside Edinburgh with her husband, three kids, a one-eye whippet and a fat black pug. Born in a colliery village in the North East of England, she cut her literary teeth on the great storytellers of the 60’s and 70’s – Wilbur Smith, Frank Yerby, Mary Renault and Sergeanne Golon. She began her writing career as an advertising copywriter, and has since had novels published by Random House and HarperCollins, and original audio series produced by Audible UK. She also writes for tv.

kippercottagemysteries.co.uk

Cole Baxter

Cole Baxter loves writing psychological suspense thrillers. It’s all about that last reveal that he loves shocking readers with.

He grew up in New York, where there was crime all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction.

His stories will have you reading through the night—they are very addictive!

 

Lorna Dounaeva

Lorna Dounaeva has a Masters in European Studies and used to work at the Home Office before turning to crime fiction. She lives in Godalming, Surrey with her husband, three children and a crafty cat.

www.lornadounaeva.com

Angela Lester

Angela Lester loves writing psychological suspense that explores the dark side of human nature.

A philosophy graduate, she came over from Germany in 1991 and has lived in Cardiff ever since.  She plays the piano, sings in a choir and loves walking in the great Welsh countryside. She has worked as bookseller and translator, but her real passion is writing. She has written short stories and novels in German and English. The Tenant is her first published thriller.

Daco S. Auffenorde

Daco S. Auffenorde is an award-winning author of thriller and suspense stories. She’s discussed her books in multiple interviews, including Bob Kustra’s National Public Radio show Reader’s Corner and George R.R. Martin’s Jean Cocteau Cinema. The daughter of a physicist, Daco is a southern girl from Huntsville, Alabama (known as Rocket City for its role in building the rocket that took astronauts into space), who pens fast-paced, edge-of-your seat tales that keep the reader guessing.

Daco holds a B.A. and M.A.S. from The University of Alabama in Huntsville and a J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Alabama Writers’ Forum, Authors Guild, and Alabama State Bar. When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys long hikes, painting with watercolors, and hacking away at golf balls.

www.authordaco.com

Robert W Kirby

Robert was born in 1979 and lives in Kent with his wife, children, and bonkers dalmatian, Dexter. He ran a private investigation agency for over fifteen years, dealing in cases that involved breach of contract claims, commercial debt recovery, and process serving. Robert’s agency also specialised in people tracing; so much of his work revolved around tracking down debtors, dealing in adoption matters, and locating missing persons. At times, he worked on some pretty bizarre cases and dealt with plenty of interesting and sometimes colourful individuals. Since 2014, Robert has worked self-employed in the pet care industry, and is a keen trail runner, mountain biker and kayaker. Robert has a huge passion for screenwriting for many years and started writing novels during the first lockdown.

www.robertkirbybooks.com

Lorraine Murphy

Lorraine Murphy takes everyday situations and twists them into terrifying tales. She is the author of Into the Woods and numerous published, and winning, flash fiction stories.

A software engineer by profession, she’s had many careers including slimming club leader, adult educator, charity co-founder, chairperson, activist and entrepreneur. As a teenager, she adored Stephen King and later found herself on the jury of an infamous murder trial.

When she’s not writing, Lorraine is always into something, whether it be competing in/for her local Toastmasters club or jumping out of a fully functional airplane. She lives in Westmeath, Ireland with her husband Brendan and three taller children.

Eliot Stevens

Eliot Stevens grew up between Italy and the UK, studied philosophy, and works in the humanitarian sector. He’s fascinated by the intricate coils of the human mind and tries to unravel them in his stories. He lives in the quiet countryside north of Rome with his beautiful family. When not writing, he mostly wishes he was. The Woman on the Bench is his first published novel.

www.eliotstevens.com

Logan Ryles

Logan Ryles was born in small town USA and knew from an early age he wanted to be a writer. After working as a pizza delivery driver, sawmill operator, and banker, he finally embraced the dream and has been writing ever since. With a passion for action-packed and mystery-laced stories, Logan’s work has ranged from global-scale political thrillers to small town vigilante hero fiction.

Beyond writing, Logan enjoys saltwater fishing, road trips, sports, and fast cars. He lives with his wife and three fun-loving dogs in Alabama.

www.loganryles.com

Kyla Sharp

Kyla Sharp writes fun, dark and twisty suspense novels. Originally from Chicago, Kyla has worked as a breaking news reporter, at an animal hospice, and has traveled the world full-time as a “digital nomad.” She now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

www.kylasharp.com

Jay Nadal

Jay Nadal writes UK police procedural crime thrillers. He’s the author of twenty novels and also writes private investigator and psychological thrillers. Hailing from Essex, he’s always had a passion for mysteries and crime thrillers and turned that into a full-time career as an author. He likes to write darker crime but enjoys lacing it raw human emotions and humour.
When not writing, Jay loves nothing more than spending time with his family, two daughters and four Yorkies.

www.jaynadal.com

J.M. O'Rourke

From Mayo in the west of Ireland, I left home at sixteen and spent much of my life in many parts of the world, working at everything from stone mason, staff newspaper reporter, barman, station foreman with London Underground, and lots more besides. I returned to education as a mature student and hold a BA in history and sociology from the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and an M.Phil in creative writing from Trinity College Dublin.  Since 2005 I’ve been a civilian employee of the Irish police, An Garda Síochána. I’ve been writing all my life and have had four novels published. I enjoy experimenting with different styles as I explore the diversity of voice in creative writing. 

Robin Mahle

Robin Mahle has published more than 30 crime fiction novels, many, of which, topped the Amazon charts in the US, Canada, and the UK. Also a screenwriter, she has adapted some of her works into teleplays, which have gone on to place in film festivals nationwide. From detectives to federal agents, and from killers to corruption, her page-turning tales grab hold and refuse to let go. Throw in tense action and thrilling twists, and it becomes clear why her readers come back for more. Robin lives in Coastal Virginia with her husband and two children.

www.robinmahle.com

Theo Baxter

Theo Baxter has followed in the footsteps of his brother, best-selling suspense author Cole Baxter. He enjoys the twists and turns that readers encounter in his stories.

G.M. Lawrence

Gemma M. Lawrence writes psychological suspense novels that have sizzling suspense, plenty of heart and a thrilling twist or two. She decided to start writing as a hobby in 2015 and after a few half-hearted attempts at a novel, she decided to commit to it. Now, with a creative writing course under her belt, she loves nothing more than to open her laptop and let the words flow.

She lives in Hampshire in the UK with her husband, daughter, and two cats who love to bring as much chaos into their lives as possible.

https://gm-lawrence.com/

Gaye Maguire

Gaye admits to a lifelong obsession with crime, and a keen interest in psychology and social history. She credits her parents, who were avid readers, with her love of fiction. When she graduated from Enid Blyton to Agatha Christie at age nine, so began a life of crime… reading.  She enjoyed an award-winning career as a TV Producer/Director working for the BBC, ITV and RTE. Now a full-time writer, she has three adult children and one adorable granddaughter. She lives in Dublin with her husband, to whom she now owes a workshop, two of her grown up kids and two rescue dogs who are not at all grown up, but make for great company at the bottom of the garden. 

LC George

After spending her working life searching unsuccessfully for a fulfilling career, Laura George found her passion for writing psychological thrillers whilst on maternity leave with her first child. She took a leap of faith and didn’t return to work, instead running with her dream of continuing to write.

Now a mum of two, she lives with her children, husband and springer spaniel, Dougie on the beautiful Devonshire coastline. In the little spare time she gets, she loves nothing more than writing twisty thriller novels for the reader to untangle.

H J Reed

H J Reed lives and writes in Bristol, where she graduated with a PhD in psychology and began a long career lecturing in psychology and criminology, both in mainstream universities and in the prison education system. Her evenings were spent writing novels and short stories in various genres and styles, and pondering on the strange workings of the criminal mind. After a number of publication successes, she gained an MA in creative writing and went on to teach literature and the arts.  Now, she is able to follow her lifelong passion and write crime fiction full time. When she is not writing, she can be found being taken for long muddy walks by a middle-aged, temperamental toy poodle, or in far-flung foreign cities thinking up new plots.

www.hjreed.com

Stephen Penner

Stephen Penner is an author, artist, and attorney from Seattle. He has written over 25 novels and specializes in courtroom thrillers known for their unexpected twists and candid portrayal of the justice system. Stephen began his legal career as a criminal defense attorney, appearing in federal, state, and municipal courts throughout the State of Washington. After several years, Stephen ‘switched sides’ and became a prosecutor. He has been practicing criminal law for nearly 30 years, working his way up from misdemeanor offenses, to felonies, and finally to homicides. He has conducted over 100 trials and draws on his extensive experience to infuse his writing with realism and insight. In his spare time, Stephen enjoys painting, drawing, and spending time with his family.

www.stephenpenner.com

Mark Gillespie

Mark Gillespie writes psychological thriller and suspense novels. He’s a former professional musician (bass player) from Glasgow, Scotland who spent ten years touring the UK and Ireland, playing sessions and having the time of his life. Don’t ask though. What happened on the road stays on the road.
He now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife and a small menagerie of rescue creatures. If he’s not writing, he’s jamming with other musicians, running on the beach, watching mixed martial arts and boxing. Or devouring horror and thriller movies.

www.markgillespieauthor.com

M. I. Hattersley

M. I. Hattersley was born in Yorkshire. Over the last twenty years he has toured Europe in a rock n roll band, trained as a professional actor and founded a theatre and media company. He’s also had many incredibly boring jobs to help sustain his creative endeavours.
Now he writes psychological and domestic thrillers and, as Matthew Hattersley, is a bestselling author of action thrillers.
He lives with his wife and daughter in Derbyshire and is not too comfortable writing about himself in third person.

www.mihattersley.com

Ian Loome

Ian Loome writes thrillers and mysteries. His books have been downloaded more than a half-million times on Amazon.com and have regularly featured on the Kindle best-seller lists for more than a decade. For 24 years, Ian was a multi-award-winning newspaper reporter, editor and columnist in Canada. When he’s not figuring out innovative ways to snuff his characters, he plays blues guitar and occasionally fronts bands. He lives in Sherwood Park, Alberta, with his partner Lori, a confused mostly Great Dane puppy named Ollie, and some cats for good measure.

ianloome.com

Brian R. O'Rourke

Brian R. O’Rourke has been writing stories since he was eight years old. A lifelong, avid reader, Brian believes that fiction has the power to change the world. He enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, playing the violin, and golfing.

Aiden Bailey

Aiden Bailey is an international bestselling thriller author from Australia. Formerly an engineer, he built a career marketing multi-national technology, engineering, and construction companies. His various roles have included corporate communications with the Australian Submarine Corporation, technical writing for several defence contractors, engineering on an outback petroleum pipeline, a magazine editor and art director, and engineering proposal writer for the Royal Australian Air Force’s surveillance and intelligence gathering aircraft and drone enabling works. Aiden has travelled widely in six continents and his experiences are the basis of many of his stories.

www.aidenlbailey.com

Caleb Crowe

Caleb Crowe is a British writer of psychological thrillers, and is fascinated by stories where extraordinary things happen to ordinary people, and the mundane is transformed into the menacing.
He’s afraid of the sea, fearful in the countryside, panicky in large open spaces and terrified of small, confined spaces. He finds eerily quiet villages and bustling impersonal cities equally unsettling. There’s nowhere, and no one, that doesn’t possess some kind of dark, brooding anxiety just waiting to have the lid prised open and turned into a twisty, suspenseful, nerve-shredding story.
He lives in Manchester with his partner, two children and two cats, who probably have their own mysterious agendas. Whether he’s navigating the urban jungle or wrestling with the daily challenges of family life, Caleb draws inspiration from the unpredictability of everyday existence.
www.calebcrowe.com

J.V. Cardy

Jason has been writing since he could hold a pen – long before computers popped up. His first forays into fiction, as a kid, were adventure gamebooks, and he’s very upset that none survives to this day. As an adult, he prefers psychological thrillers.

When he’s not writing, he likes to tackle (not play) Xbox games and practice (not play) snooker. In fact, he likes to think that time spent penning novels is the reason he didn’t become a professional snooker player. Others might blame talent. Whatever!

Leah Cupps

Leah Cupps is a Multiple-Award Winning Author and Entrepreneur. She writes Thriller, Mystery, and Suspense as well as Middle-Grade Mystery Adventure Books.

Leah’s novels are fast-paced thrillers that will keep you up at night as you can’t wait to see what happens in the next chapter.

Leah lives in Indiana with her husband and three children. When she isn’t losing sleep writing her next novel or scaling her next business, she enjoys reading, riding horses, working out, and spending time with her family.

 

www.leahcupps.com

Jessica Huntley

Jessica Huntley is an author of dark and twisty psychological thrillers, which often focus on mental health topics and delve deep into the minds of her characters. She has a varied career background, having joined the Army as an Intelligence Analyst, then left to become a Personal Trainer. She is now living her life-long dream of writing from the comfort of her home, while looking after her young son and her disabled black Labrador. She enjoys keeping fit and drinking wine (not at the same time).

www.jessicahuntleyauthor.com

Marnie Vinge

Marnie Vinge grew up in Moore, Oklahoma, where a massive tornado swept down the plains and destroyed her childhood home. She’s been writing dark and twisty stories ever since. She loves weaving tales where nothing is as it seems, and darkness lurks just below the surface. Marnie has held various job titles over the years, ranging from a self-defense instructor to a funeral director’s apprentice, both of which inform her writing to this day. And, no, unfortunately she wasn’t named after the film by famed master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, but sometimes she tells people she was anyway. It’s just too good of a coincidence to pass up.

https://www.marniewritesthrillers.com

Matt McGregor

Matt McGregor is a writer of psychological thrillers from New Zealand. Before becoming a writer, Matt taught English (briefly), ran a nonprofit, worked with maps, and led a marketing team for a tech startup. Now, he mostly spends his time inventing surprising ways to murder his characters, which is totally fine and nothing for you to worry about. When he’s not writing in the third person, he likes to explore the local wilderness, swim in the sea, and play with his exhaustingly energetic young children.

mattmcgregor.co

Steve Sheffield

Growing up, Steve Sheffield always wanted to be a writer and went to university where he managed to gain a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. However, due to spending too much money on drink, he was forced to abandon his literary ambitions and get a job in the police, where the pay was more reliable. He became a detective and worked multiple homicide inquiries and investigations into organized crime, while also completing a master’s degree in Criminology. The final seven years of his service in the force, he was head of a specialized crime department responsible for intelligence, surveillance, drugs and undercover operations. These days he writes books about a different kind of investigation and justice — quicker, unorthodox, brutal and generally more satisfying. He still spends too much on drink.

JT Sawyer

JT Sawyer is the pen name for author Tony Nester who writes survival and vigilante-justice thrillers. Before becoming a fulltime writer, JT spent 30 years teaching survival courses in the American Southwest for the military special operations community, at the university level, and for a variety of federal agencies. He also served as a consultant for the film industry and provided training in mantracking and fieldcraft for actors Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch. Nowadays, JT prefers having a roof over his head and placing his fictional characters in dire straits. He lives with his family and several rescue dogs in Colorado.

jtsawyer.com

Nelle Lamarr

Nelle Lamarr is the psychological suspense pen name for Nelle L’Amour, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author, who has sold over one million books worldwide and has been an Amazon All-Star. Her critically acclaimed psychological thrillers have been translated into multiple languages. The German edition of  her debut thriller, The Family Guest, published by Harper Collins/Germany, was an instant Spiegel list bestseller.

Her books feature complex, multidimensional characters and jaw-dropping twists you won’t see coming. A former executive in the entertainment industry with a blockbuster children’s television series to her credit, she lives in Los Angeles, California, with her Prince Charming-ish husband, beautiful twin princesses, and a bevy of royal pain-in-the-butt pets. When she isn’t writing, you can find her reading gripping thrillers by her favorite authors with a cup of coffee or glass of wine.

www.nellelamour.com

Rowen Chambers

Rowen Chambers writes gripping psychological thrillers packed with unexpected twists to keep you reading late into the night. Her stories involve everyday characters with seemingly normal lives that take a dark, often deadly, turn.

Rowen lives in the Midwest and spends her free time reading, enjoying the outdoors, and dreaming up ideas for her next shocking thriller.

 

rowenchambers.com