Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor is a bestselling crime and historical novelist, winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger, the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown and many other awards. He is the author of almost 50 books, most recently the Marwood and Lovett series, set in Restoration London. ...

Born in 1951, Taylor grew up in East Anglia, read English at Emmanuel College Cambridge, and has an MA in Library, Archive and Information Science from University College London. A varied career saw him take roles including boat-builder, teacher, labourer and editor before he turning to writing full-time in 1981, a move motivated in part by a desire ‘not to have to wear a tie to work’.

His interest in crime fiction began with his discovery of Sherlock Holmes at the age of eight, and ‘its lack of pretension. It sets out to entertain – it’s fiction with its sleeves rolled up.’ Success with the genre came in 1982 with the publication of Caroline Minuscule, the first of eight mysteries featuring William Dougal, a postgraduate history student and amateur sleuth with expensive tastes and dubious morals.

A prolific writing career quickly developed: six novels based on the TV series Bergerac under the pseudonym Andrew Saville between 1985 and 1988; the Blaines Trilogy (1987–90), a series of espionage thrillers set against the backdrop of Europe on the brink of the Second World War; eight mysteries based in the Welsh market town of Lydmouth; and the Roth Trilogy, a tense psychological drama that unravels backwards through the decades and which was made into the ITV miniseries Fallen Angel starring Emilia Fox and Charles Dance.

Taylor’s most well-known historical series began with The Ashes of London (2016). Set in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1666 it introduced James Marwood, government informer, and Cat Lovett, the daughter of a regicide, and became a Times/Waterstones number one bestseller. The sixth title, The Shadows of London, was published in 2023.

Andrew Taylor lives in the Forest of Dean with his photographer wife and their two children.