Multi-award-winning Mike was born in Carlisle, where he spent the first six months of his life, but grew up in Newcastle. He went to the same high school as Alan Shearer and held the position of centre forward before Mr Shearer showed his potential … Having had his football career cut short, aged 16, he accompanied his best friend to the army recruitment office, where a wily sergeant convinced Mike to also take the test. Mike joined the army. His friend did not. After twelve years of travelling the world, he left the army and moved back to the northeast, where he had a multitude of jobs ranging from personal protection bodyguard to housing otters.
Mike enrolled at Newcastle University and completed a social work degree (after realising it was a two-year course, rather than the three years a law degree would take). Influenced by a fellow student, who went on to become one of his best friends, Mike decided to become a probation officer and returned to Cumbria to take up a position at the Whitehaven office. He quickly rose through the ranks, leaving sixteen years later at the rank of assistant chief officer. During this time, he survived a serious cancer diagnosis and rigorous treatment that reignited his love of writing, and he became a full-time author in 2015 after taking redundancy. Mike will always describe himself as a reader first – quoting Lee Child, who says he only writes one book a year but will read hundreds. Mike loves music – punk and rock in particular – and real ale. And if he can combine the two, which he frequently does, he’s a very happy man.
Mike’s first book, Born in a Burial Gown, featuring DS Avison Fluke, was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger in 2013. Although he didn’t win, the feedback he received and the experience spurred him on and he realised that this was absolutely something he wanted to do. After attending a crime writing weekend of workshops called Crime & Publishment at Gretna Green in 2014, Mike signed with an independent publisher who went on to publish three Avison Fluke books: Born in a Burial Gown, Body Breaker, and a collection of short stories entitled Assume Nothing, Believe No one, Challenge Everything. The following year he returned to Crime & Publishment and met his agent after giving him a copy of the short stories.
Fast forward to 2017 when Mike signed a two-book deal with publishers Little, Brown (Constable), for a new series starring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw (Little, Brown have also since reissued the two Fluke books with updated text and new covers, but not the collection of short stories. Yet.). First in the new series was The Puppet Show. Published in June 2018 it won the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2019 and has now been translated into 26 languages. The second in the series, Black Summer, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Gold Dagger in 2020. Another two-book deal followed and The Curator was published during lockdown in 2020 and was also longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. Dead Ground followed in June 2021, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller, longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Novel of the Year 2022, and went on to win the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2022. The Botanist, the fifth and most recent instalment, was released in June 2022 and was also an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Book six in the series, The Mercy Chair, will be published on 6th June 2024! The gap is due to the publication of Mike’s new US set series starring ex-US Marshal, Ben Koenig …
Fearless was published in the UK in June 2023 and in the US in July 2023, and stars Ben Koenig, an ex-US Marshal with an interesting story. It has been picked up by a major streamer, further announcements to come in due course. Please sign up to the newsletter for the most up to date information.
