Nicci French
Author of Killing Me Softly
About the Author
Nicci French lives in Northern England. (Publisher Provided) Nicci French is the pseudonym used by husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together. Nicci Gerrard was born in Worcestershire, England on June 10, 1958. She received a first class honors show more degree in English literature from Oxford University. She taught English literature in Sheffield, London and Los Angeles before founding Women's Review, a magazine for women on art, literature and female issues. Later on, she worked at the New Statesman and is currently working at The Observer. Sean French was born in Bristol, England on May 28, 1959. He received a first class honors degree in English literature from Oxford University and became a journalist. In 1981 he won Vogue magazine's Writing Talent Contest and worked as their theatre critic from 1981 to 1986. During that time, he was also deputy literary editor and television critic at the Sunday Times, film critic for Marie Claire, and deputy editor of New Society. Before becoming a full-time author, he wrote write columns for the New Statesman. He has written both novels and non-fiction books. They were married in October 1990. In 1995, they started work on their first joint novel. The Memory Game was published in 1997 and was followed by numerous other works including The Safe House (1998), Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), The Red Room (2001), Land of the Living (2002), Secret Smile (2003), Catch Me When I Fall (2005), Losing You (2006), Until It's Over (2008), What To Do When Someone Dies (2009), and Sunday Morning Coming Down (2017). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
(nor) Nicci French is the pseudonym of London journalists, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together. Please do not combine their separate LT entries.
(dut) Nicci French is the pseudonym of London journalists, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together. Please do not combine their separate LT entries.
Nicci French is the pseudonym of London journalists, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together. Please do not combine their separate LT entries.
And please do not combine the author "French" into this author name.
(ger) Nicci French ist das Pseudonym der Londoner Journalist*innen Nicci Gerrard und Sean French, die psychologische Kriminalromane zusammen schreiben. Bitte nicht mit den LT-Einzeleinträgen der beiden Autoren verknüpfen.
Image credit: Nicci French - Photo by Annemarieke van den Broek
Series
Works by Nicci French
Associated Works
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Code to Zero • Winter Solstice • High Risk • Beneath the Skin (2000) — Author — 11 copies
Hebbes noire : elf smaakmakers voor de zomer — Foreword, some editions — 8 copies
Reader's Digest Select Editions: Bad Luck and Trouble | Silver Bay | Losing You | Treasure of Khan (2007) 5 copies
Hebbes 2 — Contributor — 4 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: Even Steven • Decisive Measures • The Rescue • Beneath the Skin (2001) — Author — 4 copies
In eigen kring — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- n/a
- Awards and honors
- MAX Gouden Vleermuis Oeuvre Award (2024)
- Agent
- Joy Harris
- Nationality
- UK
- Map Location
- England, UK
- Disambiguation notice
- Nicci French is the pseudonym of London journalists, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together. Please do not combine their separate LT entries.
And please do not combine the author "French" into this author name. - Associated Place (for map)
- UK
Members
Discussions
psychotic, sinister guy hangs girlfriend's brother in Name that Book (August 2012)
Reviews
I have long been a fan of the husband and wife writing team that is known as Nicci French but up to now I have stuck to their stand-alone thrillers. I am excited to have now started their series about psychotherapist Frieda Klein. Blue Monday gets this series off to a stellar start. A dark, complicated story with a troubled, interesting main character and a gut wrenching plot about children made this book an intense read.
The book opens with a trip to the past, on a day in 1987 when a little show more girl called Rosie Vine and her younger sister, Joanna are on their way home from school. Rose is both resentful of having her younger sister trailing along behind her, and preoccupied with thoughts of their stop at the local sweet shop. Rosie gets to the shop first, but Joanna never arrives. She has vanished. Now some twenty two years later, another child has been taken in a similar manner. Dr. Frieda Klein is treating a troubled man and some of the things he says brings her to believe that he is somehow involved with the missing child. She feels she has no other choice but to report this to the police.
These authors excel at writing psychological thrillers. The words, plot and atmosphere are dark, haunting and suspenseful. There are a number of story-lines that are developed over the course of the book and not all have been resolved by the end so the reader is left wanting more. I get a sense that the authors are going to develop Frieda slowly. She is a solitary, prickly, difficult woman but she is starting to let some people into her life and I look forward to seeing how this group evolves over the course of the series and learning more about Frieda and her secrets. show less
The book opens with a trip to the past, on a day in 1987 when a little show more girl called Rosie Vine and her younger sister, Joanna are on their way home from school. Rose is both resentful of having her younger sister trailing along behind her, and preoccupied with thoughts of their stop at the local sweet shop. Rosie gets to the shop first, but Joanna never arrives. She has vanished. Now some twenty two years later, another child has been taken in a similar manner. Dr. Frieda Klein is treating a troubled man and some of the things he says brings her to believe that he is somehow involved with the missing child. She feels she has no other choice but to report this to the police.
These authors excel at writing psychological thrillers. The words, plot and atmosphere are dark, haunting and suspenseful. There are a number of story-lines that are developed over the course of the book and not all have been resolved by the end so the reader is left wanting more. I get a sense that the authors are going to develop Frieda slowly. She is a solitary, prickly, difficult woman but she is starting to let some people into her life and I look forward to seeing how this group evolves over the course of the series and learning more about Frieda and her secrets. show less
The Lying Room is the first stand alone mystery thriller from Nicci French (the husband and wife writing team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) since the conclusion of the Frieda Klein series.
When Neve Connolly discovers her married lover murdered in his pied-à-terre she takes a deep breath and then works methodically to remove any trace of herself from the crime scene, before returning home to her husband and three children.
“He was dead. he had been murdered. But it wasn’t about her or show more them. That was irrelevant to whatever it was that had happened here.”
The Lying Room is a taut character driven mystery with its focus on Neve’s desperate attempts to protect her family, and herself, from the consequences of her lover’s murder.
“There was no getting away from it. She would have to get on with her life and behave the way an innocent person would behave. The fact that she was innocent–innocent at least of the murder–was no help at all.”
The author’s characterisation is generally strong and believable. A busy wife, mother, employee and friend, Neve is an ordinary woman caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and I could empathise with her impulse to protect her family, despite her obviously shaky relationship with her husband, and daughter. Her stress and fear Is palpable as Neve frantically strives to project a sense of normalcy, even while chaos descends on her home, in the form of a parade of unwanted houseguests, and surprise visits from DI Hitching.
“Even the truth felt like a lie now.”
There are plenty of red herrings in The Lying Room to keep any armchair detective guessing. Aware that DI Hitching strongly suspects she is somehow involved, Neve eventually becomes determined to identify the killer herself, and finds herself clumsily investigating her family, and friends. I didn’t guess the identity of the killer, or their motivation, until quite late in the story, though subtle clues are present earlier.
“Almost every part of the police investigation was wrong or misleading, the crucial evidence had been removed or destroyed. Their narrative of events was entirely false. But after all of that, the conclusions were correct.”
A well written, clever, and gripping novel, The Lying Room is an entertaining mystery. show less
When Neve Connolly discovers her married lover murdered in his pied-à-terre she takes a deep breath and then works methodically to remove any trace of herself from the crime scene, before returning home to her husband and three children.
“He was dead. he had been murdered. But it wasn’t about her or show more them. That was irrelevant to whatever it was that had happened here.”
The Lying Room is a taut character driven mystery with its focus on Neve’s desperate attempts to protect her family, and herself, from the consequences of her lover’s murder.
“There was no getting away from it. She would have to get on with her life and behave the way an innocent person would behave. The fact that she was innocent–innocent at least of the murder–was no help at all.”
The author’s characterisation is generally strong and believable. A busy wife, mother, employee and friend, Neve is an ordinary woman caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and I could empathise with her impulse to protect her family, despite her obviously shaky relationship with her husband, and daughter. Her stress and fear Is palpable as Neve frantically strives to project a sense of normalcy, even while chaos descends on her home, in the form of a parade of unwanted houseguests, and surprise visits from DI Hitching.
“Even the truth felt like a lie now.”
There are plenty of red herrings in The Lying Room to keep any armchair detective guessing. Aware that DI Hitching strongly suspects she is somehow involved, Neve eventually becomes determined to identify the killer herself, and finds herself clumsily investigating her family, and friends. I didn’t guess the identity of the killer, or their motivation, until quite late in the story, though subtle clues are present earlier.
“Almost every part of the police investigation was wrong or misleading, the crucial evidence had been removed or destroyed. Their narrative of events was entirely false. But after all of that, the conclusions were correct.”
A well written, clever, and gripping novel, The Lying Room is an entertaining mystery. show less
The Last Days of Kira Mullan: A Chilling Murder Mystery with Shocking Plot Twists, Get Hooked Now! by Nicci French
Nancy North has recently been discharged from a psychiatric ward following a psychotic episode — voices, a complete unraveling, the full frightening experience of not being able to trust her own mind. She and her boyfriend Felix are moving to a new flat in Harlesden, north London, for a fresh start. Nancy is fine now. She's taking her medication, doing her breathing exercises, managing carefully. What she could do without is Felix's hovering concern, and the fact that he seems to have show more pre-warned the neighbors about her history before she even got to introduce herself.
Within days of moving in, the young woman in the basement flat is found hanging from a beam. Her name is Kira Mullan. The police quickly determine it was suicide and the case is essentially closed before it starts. But Nancy had a brief encounter with Kira the day before she died — a woman in striking green boots with yellow laces, visibly upset and angry, who said something to Nancy that didn't quite make sense. And to Nancy's eye, Kira was not suicidal. Distressed, yes. Frightened, possibly. But not that. The problem is that Nancy is the only one who thinks so, and everyone around her — Felix, the neighbors, the police — looks at her with eyes that say: you can't trust yourself. They're not entirely wrong that she had a brief episode around the time of the encounter, which Felix immediately weaponizes. Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O'Connor — from the previous Nicci French novel Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? — has her own quiet misgivings about her colleagues' hasty conclusions. She knows what it looks like when a woman's account is dismissed because she's deemed inconvenient. Second in the Maud O'Connor series, readable as a standalone.
[May contain spoilers]
Nancy's determination to be heard has devastating consequences — the gaslighting from all directions, including from Felix and the neighbors, escalates to a point where she is re-institutionalized, her credibility weaponized against her. Maud eventually takes Nancy's account seriously and the investigation reopens. Kira's death was indeed murder, and the community's eagerness to close the case quickly is connected to who had reasons to want it closed. Felix's "concern" is darker than it initially appears. The ending delivers justice but at real cost to Nancy.
What I think: This is Nicci French doing what they do best — atmospheric British psychological thriller with a woman-not-believed-at-the-center structure that generates genuine, productive rage. The gaslighting is rendered with forensic precision. Nancy is a deeply compelling protagonist specifically because the reader shares her uncertainty about her own reliability. Maud is a fantastic detective — smart, sardonic, politically aware within her institution. Right in the territory of Her Last Breath and She Didn't See It Coming. Probably a strong 4 to 4.5 from you. show less
Within days of moving in, the young woman in the basement flat is found hanging from a beam. Her name is Kira Mullan. The police quickly determine it was suicide and the case is essentially closed before it starts. But Nancy had a brief encounter with Kira the day before she died — a woman in striking green boots with yellow laces, visibly upset and angry, who said something to Nancy that didn't quite make sense. And to Nancy's eye, Kira was not suicidal. Distressed, yes. Frightened, possibly. But not that. The problem is that Nancy is the only one who thinks so, and everyone around her — Felix, the neighbors, the police — looks at her with eyes that say: you can't trust yourself. They're not entirely wrong that she had a brief episode around the time of the encounter, which Felix immediately weaponizes. Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O'Connor — from the previous Nicci French novel Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? — has her own quiet misgivings about her colleagues' hasty conclusions. She knows what it looks like when a woman's account is dismissed because she's deemed inconvenient. Second in the Maud O'Connor series, readable as a standalone.
[May contain spoilers]
Nancy's determination to be heard has devastating consequences — the gaslighting from all directions, including from Felix and the neighbors, escalates to a point where she is re-institutionalized, her credibility weaponized against her. Maud eventually takes Nancy's account seriously and the investigation reopens. Kira's death was indeed murder, and the community's eagerness to close the case quickly is connected to who had reasons to want it closed. Felix's "concern" is darker than it initially appears. The ending delivers justice but at real cost to Nancy.
What I think: This is Nicci French doing what they do best — atmospheric British psychological thriller with a woman-not-believed-at-the-center structure that generates genuine, productive rage. The gaslighting is rendered with forensic precision. Nancy is a deeply compelling protagonist specifically because the reader shares her uncertainty about her own reliability. Maud is a fantastic detective — smart, sardonic, politically aware within her institution. Right in the territory of Her Last Breath and She Didn't See It Coming. Probably a strong 4 to 4.5 from you. show less
I thought the first in this series, Blue Monday was very good. Tuesday's Gone is even better.
Frightening to learn how often police take 'the path of least resistance' to close a case inadequately investigated. Happens more often if victims and suspects are poor, elderly, ill, defenseless, homeless, drug-addicted or criminal.
We learn more about why Frieda Klein, a dedicated and intuitive psychoanalyst, is compelled to analyze and help people who are troubled and distressed. And how deeply show more she understands people's motivations, thoughts and desires; and how to draw them out so she can help.
This series is clearly an improvement on Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series in which a psychologist assists his friend, LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis. I love that French's books are more layered and nuanced than the frenzied, over-wrought, and violence-obssessed Kellerman series.
Excellent read! show less
Frightening to learn how often police take 'the path of least resistance' to close a case inadequately investigated. Happens more often if victims and suspects are poor, elderly, ill, defenseless, homeless, drug-addicted or criminal.
We learn more about why Frieda Klein, a dedicated and intuitive psychoanalyst, is compelled to analyze and help people who are troubled and distressed. And how deeply show more she understands people's motivations, thoughts and desires; and how to draw them out so she can help.
This series is clearly an improvement on Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series in which a psychologist assists his friend, LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis. I love that French's books are more layered and nuanced than the frenzied, over-wrought, and violence-obssessed Kellerman series.
Excellent read! show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 54
- Also by
- 12
- Members
- 19,424
- Popularity
- #1,122
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 722
- ISBNs
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