LISA JEWELL was born in London in 1968. Her first novel, Ralph’s Party, was published in 1999. It was the best-selling debut novel of the year. Since then she has published another sixteen novels, most lately a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls and Then She Was Gone (both of which were R&J Book Club picks).

Lisa is a top 10 New York Times and number one Sunday Times author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages.

She lives in north London with her husband, two daughters, two cats, two guinea pigs and the best dog in the world.

Twitter: @lisajewelluk

Emad Akhtar has worked at HarperCollins, Penguin and currently is Publishing Director at Orion Fiction. He has been lucky enough to work with a wide variety of crime and thriller authors including Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Lauren Beukes, Linwood Barclay, Tim Weaver, SJ Parris, MJ Arlidge, James Oswald and many more.

Jake Kerridge is a journalist, critic and interviewer. He has been the crime fiction critic of the Daily Telegraph since 2005 and is a prolific moderator at literary festivals.

Twitter: @JakeKerridge

Selina Walker is the publisher of Century and Arrow Books, a division of Penguin Random House, where she works with authors as wonderfully diverse and creative as EL James, Harlan Coben, Anthony Horowitz, Lisa Gardner, Tony Parsons, Simon Kernick, Lisa Jewell and Katie Fforde. What unites them all is that they are great writers and compelling storytellers, and this is what she looks for when she acquires new writers, authors who can create worlds of their own and pull you straight in.  She believes that books have the power to change people’s lives, and always starts reading each new submission thinking that this could be the one that does just this. And occasionally – very occasionally – it is!

Kate Moloney is a book blogger from Ireland, with a keen interest in crime and thriller fiction. She has been blogging for a few years and is always on the lookout for the next big thing in books. When not reading and blogging, she can be found spending time with her husband and two children.

Twitter: @BibliophileBC

Jon is the deputy news editor of the Sunday Express, a travel writer and a book reviewer for the Daily Express. He is also a judge of the Crime Writers Association historical dagger.

Twitter: @joncoates73

PR Director at Transworld Publishers, part of Penguin Random House working alongside writers to find routes to securing book sales and readers through connection and engagement with media, booksellers, events, ambassadors and partnerships.

Alison has worked at Transworld for 25 years and her portfolio includes supporting the career launch of Paula Hawkins, SJ Watson, Rachel Joyce and most recently Ruth Jones. She is book publicist for Dan Brown, Tess Gerritsen, Paul O’Grady, Bill Bryson and Derren Brown and has just emerged from a two week, 10 City Uk book tour with Kate Atkinson.

Twitter: @alisonbarrow

James Swallow is a British author and scriptwriter, the creator of the Marc Dane action thriller series. A BAFTA nominee, Scribe Award winner, New York Times, Sunday Times and Amazon bestseller, he is the author of over fifty original works and tie-in novels, with experience in fiction, television, radio, journalism, new media and video games. He lives and works in London.

Twitter: @jmswallow

Ronnie Turner is the author of psychological thriller Lies Between Us.
She lives in Dorset with her family and three dogs and in her spare time, she reviews books on her blog.

Twitter: @Ronnie__Turner

Tariq Ashkanani is a solicitor based in Edinburgh, where he also runs WriteGear, a Kickstarter company that sells high-quality notebooks for writers, and WriteGear’s podcast Page One. He had no formal writing training or consultation prior to writing Welcome to Cooper. He is currently working on a follow-up thriller.

Twitter: @TariqAshkanani

Ayo Onatade is a freelance crime fiction critic and blogger. She has written articles and papers on different aspects of crime fiction. She was a contributor to British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia (2008) edited by Barry Forshaw and The American Thriller (Critical Insights) (2014) edited by Gary Hoppenstand. She is co-editor with Len Tyler of the anthology Bodies in the Bookshop (2014). She is chair of the CWA Short Story Dagger and helps judge the HWA (Historical Writers Association) Debut Novel. She blogs at Shotsmag Confidential and contributes to Shotsmag and Crimespree Magazine. She has an eclectic taste in crime fiction, which runs from historical crime fiction to hardboiled and short stories. Her research interests include historical fiction especially crime fiction and crime fiction literary criticism. She is also a visiting lecturer at Kingston University.  Twitter: @shotsblog

K.J. Howe is the executive director of ThrillerFest and the international bestselling author of THE FREEDOM BROKER (Thriller Award Winner, Barry Award Nominee) and SKYJACK. She has spent the last six years immersed in the world of kidnap and ransom to write her series about elite kidnap negotiator Thea Paris who has type 1 diabetes.

Twitter: @KJHoweAuthor

Victoria Haslam is an editor for the Amazon Publishing imprints Thomas & Mercer and Little A, acquiring widely within crime and thriller and narrative non-fiction. Before joining Amazon Publishing in 2020, Victoria was commissioning editor at Audible UK where she acquired titles for the company’s first list of audiobook Audible Originals across all genres, and worked on developing great listens and shaping transformational audio content. Prior to that, Victoria worked with a few independent trade and B2B publishers in a variety of roles – mostly in editorial, foreign rights, and digital positions.

Twitter: @_victoriahaslam

Jemima Forrester is a literary agent at David Higham Associates. She joined the company in 2016 having previously been senior commissioning editor at Orion Publishing Group where she worked with authors including Steve Cavanagh, Denise Mina and Ian Rankin.

Twitter: @jemimaforrester

Vicki Mellor is Publishing Director for Fiction at Pan Macmillan where she works on a variety of authors including Sunday Times bestsellers Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett and Ann Cleeves. Primarily focusing on commissioning into the commercial fiction crime and thriller arena, she is looking for authors in all areas within this genre and loves the excitement of bringing both established and new authors to the public’s attention. Her interests in the genre are wide-ranging: from gritty serial killer thrillers to rip-roaring archaeological adventures racing around the globe; from the magic of historical novels to dark, urban gothic thrillers. She looks for original novels which fire her imagination and transport her away to a new and exciting world. Prior to Pan Macmillan, she was at Headline Publishing Group where she worked with a range of bestselling authors including Karen Rose, Lisa Gardner, Sarah Hilary, Jenny Blackhurst and Chris Kuzneski amongst others.

Twitter: @headcrime

Camilla Bolton is the Senior Agent at the Darley Anderson Literary Agency, where she has worked for eleven years. A key focus of her role as an agent is finding and working with new talent; specialising in crime, thriller, suspense and contemporary fiction she represents ebook, New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers, including authors such as Tim Weaver, B A Paris, Catherine Steadman, T M Logan, Phoebe Morgan and K L Slater.

Twitter: @CamillaJBolton