Laura Purcell worked in local government, the financial industry, and a bookshop before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Colchester, the oldest recorded town in England, with her husband and pet guinea pigs. The Silent Companions was a Radio 2 and Zoe Ball ITV Book Club pick, and her novel The Shape of Darkness won the inaugural Fingerprint Award for Historical Crime Book of the Year. Her short stories have been included in The Haunting Season and The Winter Spirits anthologies, which were both instant Sunday Times bestsellers. Her novel The Whispering Muse was the 2023 winner of The Dracula Society’s Children of the Night Award.
