Karen Taylor

Karen Taylor is a UEA alumni crime writer whose Penzance-based serial killer thriller Fairest Creatures was longlisted for the 2020 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger. Dark Arts is its prequel. Also based in Penzance, the book is a thriller which revolves around the local arts community.

Before turning to crime fiction, Karen wrote children’s books and short stories. Her middle grade Sci-Fi novel Turbulence was shortlisted at the Winchester Writers’ Festival, alongside a novella and a short story. Her YA thriller Off The Rails won her a place in the Dragon’s Den at the London Book Fair in 2016.

Karen is also a journalist and editor with wide ranging experience, covering everything from business to lifestyle. She’s worked on trade, corporate and association publications, run international news teams, and contributed to newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The London Evening Standard, The London Magazine, The Independent, and The Far Eastern Economic Review. Her first book The Trade, published by Endeavour Press, was inspired by her globe-trotting years as a commodity markets reporter.

More recently, Karen has appeared on a panel at CrimeFest 2023, read her work at the Crime in the Spotlight slot at Bloody Scotland in 2022, delivered a crime fiction workshop at the Penzance LitFest in 2022 and moderated a crime fiction panel at the festival last summer. As part of the PZLitFest organising committee, Karen has represented the festival on BBC Radio Cornwall, as well as being interviewed by the station about Fairest Creatures.

Karen has one son and two cats and spends her time between London and Penzance.