Louise Ross (born 10 February 1985), known by her

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

LJ Ross, is the author of the DCI Ryan, Summer Suspense and Doctor Gregory series of mystery thrillers. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''Holy Island'', was released in January 2015 and, by May, it had reached number one in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

UK chart. Its sequel, ''Sycamore Gap'', released in September 2015, is also a UK bestseller. She released further books in the DCI Ryan series, amassing more than twenty UK No. 1s and selling over ten million copies. In 2024 Amazon reported that she was the second most read author of the last decade.

Early life

Ross was born and grew up in

Ponteland Ponteland ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. Built on marshland near St Mary's Church and the old bridge, most marshland has now been drained to make way for housing. In the ind ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England. She completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, where she met her husband, and continued her studies in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. After spending most of her twenties working in the City as a lawyer, she began to feel it was time for change.

Publishing career

Ross wrote ''Holy Island'' having been inspired by the atmospheric beauty of

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

, an island off the northeast coast of England she knew well from childhood. Following its instant success, she now writes full-time. The second book in her series of DCI Ryan novels, ''Sycamore Gap'', is set in

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

country and subsequent DCI Ryan novels continue the Northumbrian locations, with stories set in Northumberland,

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. A multi-cast audio drama version of Ross's eleventh novel in the DCI Ryan Mysteries Series ''The Infirmary'', a prequel, was performed by a number of high-profile actors including Kevin Whately, Tom Bateman, Hermione Norris, Alun Armstrong. Hugh Dancy and Richard Armitage narrated the audiobook versions of the Doctor Gregory novels. The eighteenth instalment of the DCI Ryan series, ''The Rock'', was the UK's third best-selling ebook of 2021, behind novels by

Richard Osman Richard Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and novelist. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show ''Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz shows ''Two Tribes ( ...

and

Matt Haig Matt Haig (born 3 July 1975) is an English author and journalist. He has written both fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, often in the speculative fiction genre. Early life Haig was born on 3 July 1975 in Sheffield. He grew ...

. In 2022, Amazon UK reported that the DCI Ryan Mysteries series was its second-bestselling book series of all time. Ross has twice been shortlisted for the British Book Awards 'Crime and Thriller Book of the Year' for her books ''Impostor'' (the first book in the Doctor Gregory series) and ''Bamburgh'' (book 19 in the DCI Ryan Mysteries series). She was also shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers' Association "Dagger in the Library" Award in 2021 and 2024. Ross publishes all of her works independently through Dark Skies Publishing, a publishing imprint set up and managed by Ross and her husband.

Personal life

Ross lives with her husband and two children in Northumberland.

Philanthropy

Ross has founded several prizes to celebrate arts in the North East of England. She set up the Northern Photography Prize for images captured in the North East of England, the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction and the Northern Film Prize. In 2021, LJ Ross brought together 55 fellow authors from across the spectrum of publishing to produce ''Everyday Kindness'', a charity anthology of short stories, the proceeds of which were donated to Shelter. The audiobook version of ''Everyday Kindness'' was narrated by several high-profile actors including Dame Julie Walters and Richard Armitage.

Novels

DCI Ryan Mysteries series

Police procedural mystery/romantic suspense series set in Northumbria, England following Detective Chief Inspector Ryan.

Alexander Gregory Thrillers series

Forensic psychologist Doctor Alexander Gregory becomes involved in murder investigations.

Summer Suspense Mysteries series

A suspense series set in rural

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Short story anthology

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, LJ Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century pseudonymous writers Alumni of King's College London English crime fiction writers English thriller writers English women novelists People from Ponteland Pseudonymous women writers Women thriller writers Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne Writers from Northumberland