Andrea Barton

I’ve always loved reading, especially mysteries and thrillers, but I never seriously considered writing a book until I took time off my job as a career counsellor for maternity leave.
Life with young children was too chaotic for me to get very far, but when we moved to Lagos, Nigeria for my husband’s job, I gave up my day job to give writing more of a go. I’ve been writing ever since: short stories, plays, blogs, picture books and novels.
My goal is to create stories that grip people and keep them reading late into the night, but also to make them think and most of all to feel.

I love Alice Feeney, who writes psychological thrillers with fabulous twists, such as Rock Paper Scissors or Beautiful Ugly.
Sulari Gentill is awe-inspiring. She wrote the 10-book Rowley Sinclair series, mysteries set in Australia in the 1930s, and more recently several standalone contemporary mysteries that have a meta edge, such as After She Wrote Him.
I’ve enjoyed all Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novels, particularly Daisy Jones & the Six, which is pegged as historical fiction.

The Jade Riley Mysteries are inspired by the places I’ve lived, the people I’ve met, and the adventures I’ve had along the way. I love storytelling in its many forms, and my writing is influenced by the many books, movies, TV shows, songs and dances I’ve enjoyed since I was a child.
Book 1, The Godfather of Dance, is set in Houston, Texas, and features murder, dance and family secrets.
Book two, A Killer Among Friends, takes place in Melbourne, Australia, and tackles murder, music and company secrets.
Each story is set in a different place and finds Jade facing new challenges and solving crimes.

Jade Riley, the lead character in my mystery series, is my favourite. When I first decided to write a mystery series, I wanted to create a relatable protagonist, not someone with superhero skills and strength. I had no desire to write a police procedural or an ex-military protagonist, partly because I had no lived experience of that life so I’d have to do extensive research and even then I probably wouldn’t get it right, but also because I wanted to keep the idea of an ordinary person in extraordinary situations.
Jade is an everyday hero, a rookie journalist with more ambition than experience, more passion than finesse. Like me, she’s Australian, from my hometown, Melbourne, and she’s passionate about ballroom and Latin dance.

After the five Jade Riley Mysteries come out, I will assess whether or not to write more Jade books. They have all been based around countries where I’ve lived, so if I don’t move somewhere new, I might write one set in a holiday destination.
In the meantime, I’d like to develop my skills as a short story writer, potentially leading to an anthology, and I have a short story I’d like to develop into a play.