Mary-Jane Riley

Mary-Jane Riley is the bestselling author of four crime novels published by Harper Collins. They feature the journalist Alex Devlin and have a strong flavour of East Anglia, an area of sharp contrasts, with sea, cliffs, fens and forests.

From childhood days, when she borrowed all the books she could from her local library, she always wanted to be a writer herself one day. But her career started on BBC radio, where she presented a morning talk show interviewing people from all walks of life. Indeed, it was during an interview with the crime and psychological thriller writer, Ruth Rendell, who told her to ‘just write’, that she determined to do exactly that.

She also enjoys helping people find their voice. She and two colleagues worked with BBC Voices, a life-writing community project. The aim was not to teach people how to write, but to help them bring their own stories to life. From young offenders to people with severe disabilities, Mary-Jane loved the confidence these sessions gave them. She went on to develop more writing projects with the University of East Anglia. A highlight of these workshops was a trip to Nigeria, and a conference where aid workers came from across Africa with their stories of need, deprivation, and struggles for success.

Mary-Jane, who lives in Suffolk with her husband Kim and golden retriever Reggie, is working on a follow-up project to her Alex Devlin series: a novel set over three centuries inspired by the lost city of Dunwich.