Rob Lloyd (writing as Robert J. Lloyd), the son of parents who worked in the British Foreign Office, grew up in South London, Innsbruck, and Kinshasa. He studied for a Fine Art degree, starting as a landscape painter but becoming a sculpture/photography/installation/performance generalist. While studying for his MA degree in The History of Ideas he read Robert Hooke’s diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary man. Rob’s MA thesis and the Hooke & Hunt series of historical thrillers are all about him.

After a 20-year career as a secondary school teacher, he’s now returned to painting and writing. He’s married and has three splendid children, and lives in the Brecon Beacons.

He’s published by Melville House Publishing, and represented by Gaia Banks at Sheil Land Associates.

The Bloodless Boy, set in London in 1678, is his debut novel. Its sequel, set a year later, is The Poison Machine. A third book in the series, The Bedlam Cadaver, was released in June 2024.