Caitlin Davies is a novelist, non-fiction writer, teacher, mentor and journalist. She’s the author of six novels and eight non-fiction books, many of which are inspired by forgotten women from history.
Her early books are set in Botswana, where she started her writing career as a human rights reporter, including her memoir Place of Reeds.
Some of her books have a watery theme, such as Taking the Waters: A Swim Around Hampstead Heath, Downstream: A History and Celebration of Swimming the River Thames, and Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World.
Others have a criminal theme, including The Ghost of Lily Painter, based on a true tale of baby farming, Bad Girls: The Rebels and Renegades of Holloway Prison, nominated for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2019, and Queens of the Underworld, a history of professional female crooks from the 17th century to today.
Her latest non-fiction book, Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths, tells the story of the UK’s female private eyes from the 1850s to the present, interspersed with her own training as a Professional Investigator.
She is currently working on a novel, The Seaside Detective, set in Charles Dickens’ household in Broadstairs in 1857. When a sensitive letter goes missing from Dickens’ study, he fears a scandal that will run his career, so he turns to his good friend ex-Inspector Henry Hedge. Hedge hires a young servant girl, Louisa May, to infiltrate the household and catch the thief – and she discovers the private truth behind a very public man. The Seaside Detective is the first of a series of novels featuring Louisa May and set on the Isle of Thanet.
Caitlin is also Writer in Residence at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, part of the Royal Literary Fund’s social sector programme.
‘Private Inquiries is a must-read – a riveting mythbuster, with its revelations of the real histories of women PIs’
– Val McDermid
‘Davies is a great storyteller and this is a feast of true crime and women’s place in history. Fascinating and utterly riveting’
– Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws KC
‘Caitlin has a particular gift for capturing an individual’s physical presence.’
– Hilary Mantel, Sunday Telegraph
Caitlin is an executor of the literary estate of her mother, Margaret Forster.
