Cally Taylor, also known as C.L. Taylor, is an English ''Sunday Times'' bestselling crime author. As Cally Taylor she wrote romantic comedies published by

Orion Publishing Group Orion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It was founded in 1991 and acquired Weidenfeld & Nicolson the following year. The group has published numerous bestselling books by notable authors including Ian Rankin, Michael Connell ...

and as C.L. Taylor, she publishes psychological thrillers through

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

. On 16 July 2024 she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the

University of Northumbria Northumbria University (legally the University of Northumbria at Newcastle) is a Public research university, public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, North East of England. It has been a university since 199 ...

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , RP: ), is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located on the River Tyne's northern bank opposite Gateshead to the ...

Biography

Taylor was born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

and obtained her degree in Psychology from the

. After graduating, she moved to London for two years and then spent 13 years in Brighton, where she began to write. She worked as a graphic designer, web developer, instructional designer. She now lives in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, with her partner and their son, and writes full-time.

Work

Taylor first began writing short stories in 2005. In 2006, she won two short story competitions, the Helen Mullin Awards and the Bank Street Writers competition, and was also runner-up in the

Woman's Own ''Woman's Own'' is a British lifestyle magazine aimed at women. Publication ''Woman's Own'' was first published in... 1932 by Newnes. In its early years it placed women's rights and social problems firmly in the foreground. Its first "agony aunt ...

short story competition. She has had numerous stories published in women's magazines and newspapers including the Sunday People and the Sunday Express. Taylor's debut novel, ''Heaven Can Wait'', won the Pink Thong Award for Best Debut in the Chicklit Club 2009 awards and was the first book ever to score ten out of ten in the club's rating system. Her second novel, ''Home For Christmas'', was made into a film by JumpStart Productions, directed by Jamie Patterson, and starring Lucy Griffiths,

April Pearson April Janet Pearson (born 23 January 1989) is an English actress. Born and brought up in Bristol, Pearson was drawn to acting from a young age and appeared in local theatre productions as a child. She made her acting debut in 1998 at the age of ...

Karl Davies Karl Davies (born 6 August 1982) is an English actor who portrayed Lyle Anderson in the TV series '' Kingdom''. Previously, he had portrayed Robert Sugden in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Career Davies took over the role of Robert Sugd ...

Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s, and he appeared in many British television series throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He is perhaps best known for his ro ...

, Amanda Piery and Shirley Jaffe. Her first psychological thriller, ''The Accident'', sold over 150,000 copies in the UK alone and reached number 3 in the Amazon UK Kindle Chart. The BookSeller magazine named ''The Accident'' 'One of the Top Ten Bestselling Debuts of 2014'. ''The Lie'' ranked at number 5 in the Sunday Times Bestseller charts in the first full week of publicationThe Weekly Charts. Review Magazine. The Guardian. 9 May 2015 and remained in the top 20 for five weeks. It also reached the number one spots on Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Google Books, iBooks and Sainsbury ebooks and took the number 2 spot below ''The Girl on the Train'' in The Bookseller Official E-Book Sales Ranking for May 2015. ''The Lie'' was shortlisted for two Dead Good Books Reader Awards in 2015: Most Recommended Read and Most Exotic Location. ''The Lie'' has been optioned for TV by The Forge. ''The Missing'' was ranked at number 6 in the Sunday Times bestseller chart and sold over 100,000 paperbacks within a year of publication. ''The Escape'' went to number 2 in the Sunday Times bestseller chart and won the Dead Good Books Hidden Depths Award for Most Unreliable Narrator. ''The Fear'' reached number 6 in the Sunday Times bestseller chart. ''Sleep'', her first hardback, hit number 4 in the Sunday Times original fiction chart and was selected as a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. In July 2019, Cally appeared on the

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer ( born 13 December 1974), better known as Sara Cox, is an English broadcaster and author. A presenter on BBC Radio 2, she has been hosting the station's drivetime show since January 2019. She previously presented BBC Radio 1's ...

show on ITV alongside actor

Ross Kemp Ross James Kemp (born 21 July 1964) is an English actor, author, and television presenter. He rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. His other roles include Graham Lodsworth in ''Emmerdale'' and ...

and the Kaiser Chiefs' frontman Ricky Wilson. Taylor's novels have been published in the UK and US and translated into over twenty-five languages including Chinese, Russian, Hungarian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Taiwanese, French, Italian, Polish, Indonesian, Croatian, Norwegian, and Czech. Taylor is represented by Madeleine Milburn, formerly of Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency, and now head of Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV and Film Agency.

Bibliography

Romantic comedies

* ''Heaven Can Wait'' (2009) * ''Home For Christmas'' (2011)

Psychological thrillers

* ''The Accident'' (2014) * ''The Lie'' (2015) * ''The Missing'' (2016) * ''The Escape'' (2017) * ''The Fear'' (2018) * ''Sleep'' (2019) * ''Strangers'' (2020) * ''Her Last Holiday'' (2021) * ''The Guilty Couple'' (2022) * ''Every Move You Make'' (2024) * ''It's Always The Husband'' (2025)

Young adult thrillers

* ''The Treatment'' (2017) * ''The Island'' (2021)

Short Story Collections

* ''Secrets and Rain'' (2012) * ''Tell Them No Lies'' (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Cally Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Northumbria University British chick lit writers British women crime writers English crime fiction writers English women novelists Writers from Worcester, England