Colin’s journey,
from firefighter to Author

With eleven published novels, Colin Mardell creates captivating crime thrillers that resonate with diverse audiences, earning accolades and a loyal following for his engaging narratives.

Inspirations
Driven by a desire to prove to himself that he could do it, when forced to retire through ill health after a 30 year fire service career, Colin set himself the goal of writing a book.  With no serious expectation of publication in 1998 he did just that.  Unsurprisingly, that first work was subject to some quite scathing criticism by the few people he chose to show it to.  Nevertheless, he had enjoyed the experience of creating the written piece so much that he continued writing purely for the pleasure of doing it.
When the Covid pandemic descended on us with its long days of confinement, Colin decided to put the lessons he thought he’d learned to the test and in 2021 he polished and offered a short autobiographical piece for publication.  To his surprise and delight it was accepted, becoming the spark that ignited his desire to see some of his fiction in print, hence his first novel, ‘Keep Her Safe’ was born.  Since then, another ten have been published, including ‘Wolf in the Henhouse’, winner of the 2025 Noose Award for best Crime thriller.
Colin’s chosen genre is Spy and Crime fiction, and he says that he draws his inspiration from writers such as Frederick Forsyth, Tom Clancy, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Linwood Barclay, and Harlan Coben.