Morag Joss is a British writer. She became an author in 1996 after an early career in arts and museum management.

Life and career

Joss was born in England in 1955 and from the age of four, grew up in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, Scotland. She is the author of eight novels, including the Sara Selkirk series, and '' Half Broken Things'', which won the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

's (CWA) Silver Dagger. She began writing in 1996 after a short story of hers was runner-up in a national competition sponsored by ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. A visit to the

Roman Baths In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

with crime writer

P. D. James Phyllis Dorothy James White, Baroness James of Holland Park (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuri ...

germinated the plot of her first novel, ''Funeral Music'' (1998), the first in the Sara Selkirk series. It was nominated for a

Dilys Award The Dilys Award was presented every year from 1992 to 2014 by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. It was given to the mystery title of the year which the member booksellers have most enjoyed selling. The Independent Mystery Booksell ...

for the year's best mystery published in the USA. Her later novels have moved increasingly towards literary fiction. In 2008 she was a Heinrich Böll writer-in-residence on

Achill Island Achill Island (; ) is an island off the west coast of Ireland in the historical barony of Burrishoole, County Mayo. It is the largest of the Irish isles and has an area of approximately . Achill had a population of 2,345 in the 2022 census. ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

, Ireland. ''Half Broken Things'' was adapted as a television film in 2007, starring

Penelope Wilton Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946) is an English actress. She was formerly married to fellow actor Sir Ian Holm and, as she has not remarried, retains her married style of Lady Holm. Wilton is known for starring opposite Richard ...

. In 2009 her sixth novel, ''The Night Following'' (2008), was nominated for the

Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel The Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel was established in 1954. Only hardcover novels written by a published American author are eligible. Paperback original novels are eligible for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original. Debut n ...

Bibliography

Sara Selkirk novels

# ''Funeral Music'' (1998) # ''Fearful Symmetry'' (1999) # ''Fruitful Bodies'' (2001)

Other novels

# '' Half Broken Things'' (2003) # ''Puccini's Ghosts'' (2005) # ''The Night Following'' (2008) # ''Across the Bridge'' (2011)''

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

''
"The Book Cafe, 29/08/2011"
29 August 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2013. (U.S. title, ''Among the Missing'') # ''Our Picnics in the Sun'' (2013) # ''Good to Go'' (announced as being written)

References

External links

* Scottish crime fiction writers Living people Scottish women novelists British women mystery writers 20th-century Scottish novelists Writers of Gothic fiction 20th-century British women writers 20th-century Scottish women 1955 births {{Scotland-writer-stub