Sarah Dunnakey

Sarah Dunnakey is a writer of long and short fiction. She is a winner of a Northern Writer’s Award for Fiction and the New Writing North Arvon Award. She has had short stories published in anthologies and broadcast on Radio 4.

Her debut novel The Companion – a murder mystery set in the 1930s and modern day West Yorkshire was published by Orion in 2017.

In November 2024, Avon published Sarah’s The Twelve Murders of Christmas. Twelve murderous stories, 20 fiendish puzzles and one final mystery to solve. In 2026 they are publishing The Christmas Dinner Murder, a cosy crime novel set in the Cumbrian Fells with an ex-bodyguard sleuth, a houseful of potentially murderous guests, and puzzles to test the reader’s wits at every turn.

When she’s not writing fiction Sarah writes and verifies questions for several TV quiz shows including Mastermind, University Challenge, Pointless and The Weakest Link.

Originally from North Yorkshire and Teesside, Sarah now lives in West Yorkshire.