About

I’m Jamie Costello. I was born in London, where I still live.

Jamie Costello is my YA name, and Monochrome is my first YA novel. It’s been my happiest writing experience so far – which is saying something because I love making up stories – and I hope to write many more.

Under my own name, which is Laura Wilson, I’ve written 13 crime novels for adults, including The Lover, which won the Prix du Polar Europeen, and Stratton’s War, which won the CWA Ellis Peters Award for Best Historical Mystery.

I like cooking, cemeteries – especially Highgate, in North London – and basset hounds. Florence, seen here sleeping on her own personal sofa, sadly passed away in May 2021. I still miss her. I also love reading. Favourite authors include (in no particular order): Jane Austen, Patrick Ness, Patricia Highsmith, Louise M Alcott, Malorie Blackman, Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie, Karen M McManus, Daphne du Maurier, Charles Dickens, Norton Juster, Graham Greene, Dodie Smith, Angie Thomas… Those are just the ones I thought of first – there are many, many more.

I dislike dolls (OK, so I’m actually afraid of them) and cooked spinach (thinking about it, I can imagine circumstances in which I’d be afraid of this, too, but let’s not go there).