Clare Mackintosh
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Clare Mackintosh is a British author and former police officer. Her novels are published in more than 35 languages and have sold more than two million copies worldwide.


Novels

Mackintosh's debut novel ''I Let You Go'' was a
Richard & Judy Book Club ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...
pick. It won
Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier. It is awarded annually at Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of ...
in 2016, beating J K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. In October 2016, the French translation of ''I Let You Go'' (''Te Laisser Partir'') won "best international novel" at the Cognac Festival Prix du Polar awards. In March 2017 publisher Little, Brown announced that ''I Let You Go'' has sold over one million copies worldwide. Her second novel, ''I See You'', was also a
Richard & Judy Book Club ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...
pick, winning the readers' vote. It charted at number 1 in ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' original fiction list and was shortlisted for Crime & Thriller Book of the Year in the
British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by '' The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...
. In March 2018 Mackintosh published her third novel, ''Let Me Lie'', which charted at number 1 in The Sunday Times original fiction list. It was also chosen as a
Richard & Judy Book Club ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...
pick. Mackintosh's fourth novel, ''After the End'', was published in hardback in June 2019 and became an instant ''Sunday Times'' bestseller. Mackintosh was a judge of the First Novel category of the Costa Book Awards 2019. In October 2020 it was announced that Mackintosh's fifth novel would be a thriller called ''Hostage''. It was published in the summer of 2021.


Education and police career

Mackintosh went to Royal Holloway University in Surrey, taking a degree in French and Management, and spent a year in Paris as part of the course, working as a bilingual secretary. Mackintosh joined the police force upon graduation. She was posted on promotion to
Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...
as town sergeant before becoming Thames Valley Police’s operations inspector for Oxfordshire. Mackintosh spent 12 years in the police force before leaving in 2011 to become a full-time writer.


Personal life

In 2006, Mackintosh delivered twin boys prematurely. Her son Alex contracted meningitis and suffered significant brain damage. Mackintosh and her husband made the decision to remove him from intensive care and allow him to die. When her surviving son was 15 months old, Mackintosh gave birth to a second set of twins.


Charity work

Mackintosh is a founder and former trustee of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She is patron of the Silver Star Society, a charity supporting the John Radcliffe Hospital's work with families facing difficult pregnancies. In January 2019 Mackintosh donated her advance for her book A Cotswold Family Life to the Silver Star Society, who used the donation to buy foetal monitoring equipment for the maternity unit.


List of works

* ''I Let You Go'' (Sphere, 2014) * ''I See You'' (Sphere, 2016) * ''Let Me Lie'' (Sphere, 2018) * ''A Cotswold Family Life'' (Sphere, 2019) * ''After the End'' (Sphere, 2019) * ''The Understudy'' (Hodder, 2019) (with Holly Brown,
Sophie Hannah Sophie Hannah (born 1971) is a British poet and novelist. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 a junior research fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She lives with h ...
and B.A. Paris) * ''The Donor'' (Sphere, 2020) * ''Hostage'' (Sphere, 2021) * ''The Last Party'' (Sphere, 2022) * ''A Game of Lies'' (Sphere, 2023)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackintosh, Clare Living people British crime writers 21st-century British novelists British women novelists Women mystery writers 21st-century British women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London