Ruth Dugdall

Ruth Dugdall is an internationally published novelist and short-story writer. Her seven novels are inspired by her interest in the psychology of deviance. The Woman Before Me (Legend Press, 2010) explores postnatal depression and infanticide and won the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger award. The Sacrificial Man (Legend Press, 2011) combines cannibalism and Keats in a psychological thriller that was discussed on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. My Sister and Other Liars (Thomas Mercer, 2019) has an anorexic protagonist, and was an Amazon number one bestseller. Prior to her literary career Ruth Dugdall was a probation officer, based for two years in a high-security prison environment. She has continued to take on a variety of roles within the criminal justice system, including as a crisis worker for Suffolk police, as a prison visitor in Luxembourg, and a dissertation supervisor for prison officers undertaking a Master’s degree. In 2019 Ruth Dugdall was asked by John Marshall, British Ambassador to Luxembourg, to write a short story commemorating the centenary of the end of World War 1. ‘Unfit for Active Service’ was published in the anthology The Many Faces of 1918. Ruth Dugdall lived in Silicon Valley for two years, researching and writing The Seventh Circle, a campus thriller that holds a mirror to contemporary America. She was an active member of the civilian police academy, and a guest lecturer at Stanford University. Ruth now lives in Suffolk, where most of her books are set.