Neil Daws has been a decent waiter, an average baker and a pretty good printer but most notably a diligent Civil Servant, retiring in 2015 after 30 years, 20 spent in security and counter terrorism. Other short-term jobs taken many years ago include enthusiastic tin-rattler for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, a dog-fearing leaflet distributor and a sticker-on of cork tiles in a hotel foyer.

Enthralled by real life tales of adventure and exploration (Sir Ranulph Fiennes is one of his heroes – although cutting off frostbitten fingers with a hacksaw seems a bit extreme), he became a hiker, skier, lover of travel, history and maps, and is a long-standing Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

An alumnus of the Curtis Brown Creative writing school, he achieved Highly Commended in the Blue Pencil Agency’s First Novel Award 2019 where he met his agent, Nelle Andrew of Rachel Mills Literary (RML).

He is finally making use of his Open University psychology degree and interest in history to write historical crime featuring serial killers and all manner of unsavoury people.

He has written three novels in the Kember & Hayes historical crime series: A QUIET PLACE TO KILL (2021), A SILENT WAY TO DIE (2022) and A PERFECT TIME TO MURDER (2023).

MURDER AT THE PALACE (2025), a cosy crime set in Hampton Court Palace in 1891, is published by Orion Fiction and will be followed in 2026 by MURDER AT THE TOWER.