American journalist, Carl Hiaasen (pronounced “hiya-sun”) became a novelist by the late 1970s, writing novels in his spare time. He writes books for adults but also for young-adult readers. Most of Carl Hiaasen’s novels–the ones for adults–are crime thrillers set in Florida featuring eccentric characters and (most of the time) talking about environmentalism and political…
Simon Beaufort is the joint pen name of married couple Susanna Gregory and Beau Riffenburgh. Susanna Gregory is also a pseudonym for Elizabeth Cruwys, who was for a short time a police officer in Yorkshire before earning her PhD at the University of Cambridge and becoming a Research Fellow at the Scott Polar Research Institute….
Charles Todd is a pen name used by the American authors Caroline and Charles Todd, a mother-and-son writing team. They published together more than 40 books, all of them set in rural England just after World War I, and received the Mary Higgins Clark, Agatha, and Barry awards. Charles and Caroline Todd traveled every year…
Born in 1977, Ruth Ware is the pseudonym for Ruth Warburton, a British psychological crime thriller author. She grew up in Lewes and studied English at Manchester University. Before becoming a writer, Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a publicist, and an English teacher in Paris. She published her first books under the…
New York Times bestselling author from Texas, Deanna Raybourn used to teach high school English and history before becoming a full-time writer, starting in 2006 with her first novel, Silent in the Grave. It was the launch of the successful Lady Julia Grey Series, a Victorian-era mystery series. Deanna Raybourn established herself in the historical…
American actor, singer, and author Chris Colfer became famous for his role in the television musical show Glee in which he played Kurt Hummel. During his time on the show, he started to write. First, as a screenwriter for the movie Struck by Lightning (2012), then as a Children Fantasy writer with The Land of…
English author from Berkshire, TM Logan was a newspaper journalist, working for the Nottingham Evening Post and then the Daily Mail, before he went to work for the University of Nottingham as a press officer. It was during that time that he started writing novels. In January 2017, his first thriller Lies was published. It…
Former Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Alexander McCall Smith is a best-selling British writer who started by publishing academic texts and children’s books. In fact, before becoming known as a successful fiction writer, he was a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served…
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Louise Penny didn’t begin her professional life as a bestselling author. In fact, after graduation, she embarked on an 18-year career as a radio host and journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). After her marriage, Penny left the CBC to take up writing. With her first novel, Still Life…
The queen of the revenge novel, Jane Fallon is a British author, but also the multi-award-winning television producer behind shows such as This Life, Teachers, EastEnders, and 20 Things to Do Before You’re 30. Her debut novel “Getting Rid of Matthew’ was published in 2007. Since then, she has published almost 10 more books, and…
Like John Grisham, Steve Berry was a Southerner lawyer before becoming a writer. Though he wrote his first manuscript in 1990, his first one, the standalone novel The Amber Room, was published 12 years later. Now, Steve Berry’s books have been translated into 41 languages and they appear in multiple bestseller lists. He wrote thriller…
A documentary television producer in England, John Lawton became a published author in 1994 with the first book of the Frederick Troy series, “Black Out”. Specializing in Historical fiction, Lawton wrote murder mysteries (with the Frederick Troy Series) set before and after World War II, but also spy novels (with the Joe Wilderness Series) set…
