Fiona Veitch Smith
Fiona Veitch Smith writes Golden Age mysteries and historical fiction, has been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger and was the recipient of the CWA Red Herrings Award for services to crime writing in 2026. Her breakthrough series was Poppy Denby Investigates about a young reporter sleuth in 1920s London. The first book in the series, The Jazz Files, was shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Historical Dagger. The Poppy Denby series is now re-published under new titles and covers by Embla Books. The first is A Front-Page Murder. Her second series, the Miss Clara Vale Mysteries with Embla Books (Bonnier UK), is set in and around Newcastle in the late 20s and early 30s, featuring a female forensic scientist who inherits a detective agency. The first book in the series The Picture House Murders reached #1 on Amazon’s Historical Mysteries charts.
Fiona has also written for theatre, magazines, short film and podcasts, and started out her creative career writing children’s picture books (SPCK).
She was born in Corbridge, Northumberland, then spent her teenage years and 20s in South Africa in the 1980s and 90s. She returned to the UK in 2002. As a journalist she worked on the arts and crime beats of a Cape Town newspaper, and then lectured in journalism in the UK for ten years at Newcastle University. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism (Hons) and a Bachelor of History (Rhodes University), as well as an MA in Creative Writing (Northumbria University), a PG Cert in Teaching Creative Writing (Cambridge University) and is currently working towards a PhD in creative writing and feminist representation in neo-Golden Age detective fiction at Strathclyde University. Since leaving journalism she has worked as a university lecturer and a communications manager, does freelance editing and mentors new novelists. She was formerly a board member of the Crime Writers’ Association for seven years, most recently chairing the Communications sub-committee.
Associations & Representation
Fiona is a member of the British Society of Authors, the Crime Writers’ Association, the Historical Writers’ Association, the Chartered Institute of Editors & Proofreaders, the National Association of Writers in Education and the Association of Christian Writers. Fiona is represented by Sara Keane of Keane Kataria Literary Agency.
Twitter: @FionaVeitchSmit
Facebook: Fiona Veitch Smith
Instagram: fionaveitchsmith_author
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