Maureen Paton

Freelance journalist specialising in the arts and women’s issues with my work published in every UK national except the FT (so far). Former Daily Express television critic and theatre critic for the Daily Express, The Stage newspaper, GLR (Radio London) and BBC Newsroom South-East.

Member (and former committee member and newsletter editor) of the campaigning organisation Women in Journalism.

Author of two non-fiction books: Alan Rickman, The Unauthorised Biography (Virgin) and The Best Of Women: The History of Women Of The Year (The Women’s Press).

I made my fiction debut in April 2025 with the historical crime novel The Mystery At Rake Hall; C.S.Lewis Investigates, which fictionalises the Narnia author and Magdalen don as a secret detective in a bleak 1947 Oxford. The Times: Best Crime Fiction of 2025, The Telegraph: Thrillers of the Year. The paperback edition is out on 1 January 2026. My second novel in the C.S.Lewis Investigates series will be published by Swift Press in 2026/27, date to be confirmed.