Sam Blake is the No 1 bestselling author of the Cat Connolly Garda police trilogy (Bonnier), and thriller standalones Keep Your Eyes on Me and The Dark Room and Remember My Name (Corvus Books). 

Across her books she has been an Irish Times No 1 for 7 weeks, an Eason No 1 bestseller for 10 weeks, in the Irish top ten for 28 weeks and has outsold Graham Norton (briefly!) Both her first novel Little Bones and The Dark Room were shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year (2016 & 2021). Rights enquiries to Simon Trewin 🙂  

Sam Blake*  is originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire but has lived at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland for more years than she lived in the UK. Married to a retired member of An Garda Siochana she has two children, three cats and had sole responsibility for an ant farm while her eldest was in university in Swansea (learning to build rockets). The ants were definitely preferable to the 3000 blue bottles bred for the degree thesis, but that resulted in a first in Aerospace Engineering, and proof that at least one person in the family can add up. 

*Sam Blake herself is a character from the imagination of Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin who is the founder of the multi award winning writing resources website Writing.ie, The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and is the founder of Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival.  Vanessa is a board member of the Society of Authors, led by Chair Joanne Harris, the UK based trade union that campaigns and lobbies at government level on issues that affect authors. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) – notable past fellows include Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, Nelson Mandela, David Attenborough, William Hogarth and Tim Berners-Lee. A past chair of Irish PEN, she is the convenor of the Irish Chapter of the Crime Writers Association and has recently joined the CWA board.

Sam’s ‘Behind the Bestseller’ podcast via Headstuff.org is available on all platforms.

She has to hide to get any writing done, but it’s her passion.

Sam has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.

Many hundreds of thousands of words later (and five draft manuscripts of varying quality) her debut  Little Bones hit the bookshelves in Ireland in May 2016, and in the UK in February 2017.  The first of a trilogy with Bonnier’s exciting new  fiction imprint,  Little Bones introduced the feisty Cathy Connolly, a 20-something Dublin cop and kickboxing champion. The novel begins with a horrifying discovery after what seems like a routine break-in – a baby’s bones hidden in the hem of a wedding dress.

‘Connolly, for whom the word “gutsy” might have been invented, is a terrific character . . . a compelling debut; the author keeps her complex storyline going all the way to its incredible ending’    Sunday Independent

Little Bones spent four weeks at number 1 and another 4 weeks in the top ten in the Irish bestseller list. Then in October 2016 it was shortlisted for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year Award at the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards, alongside Alex Barclay’s The Drowning Child, Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait, William Ryan’s The Constant Soldier and Catherine Ryan Howard’s Distress Signals.  

A stunning slap in the face of a novel… . . . Be warned, the ending will rend your heart’ Ken Bruen

Book two in the trilogy In Deep Water went straight into the top 10 on release in 2017 as did No Turning Back in 2018.

With Cat Connolly off to discover new horizons, Sam’s next book, was a stand alone thriller, Keep Your Eyes on Me, which was followed by the bestseller The Dark Room which was nominated (like Little Bones) for Irish Crime Novel of the year.  Her next book Remember My Name went straight into the No 1 slot in Easons and has had rave reviews. 

Keep your eye on Sam Blake by signing up for her newsletter or following her on social @samblakebooks!

For rights enquries contact Simon Trewin, details on the contact page, or at www.simontrewin.co.uk 

Dark plot twists full of intrigue Liz Nugent

Original, twisty and very gripping – this is a rollercoaster ride to be savoured.  WC Ryan

Huge thanks to the Irish Mail on Sunday for featuring me (June 24 2018) – chocolate oranges and Simon Cowell, what more could you ask?!