Laura studied law at university and spent over 20 years with Virgin Atlantic which allowed her to indulge her passion for reading whilst travelling.
On deciding to pursue a career in publishing, Laura joined the Darley Anderson Agency where she worked across the Women’s Fiction list, reading submissions, handling contracts and supporting authors on their path to publication and beyond.
She co-founded Greenstone Literary with Tanera Simons in 2024 and is excited to build a list of authors.
I am looking for commercial crime, thriller, suspense, bookclub, historical and romance fiction as well as select non-fiction.
Above everything I want to be entertained. I’m looking for a book you can’t wait to talk to someone about, in the same way as a new film or the latest release on Netflix. A book that engrosses me from the first page to the last, desperate for someone I know to read so we can discuss as soon as possible.
It will always be an original hook that draws me in, a whole concept that can be summed up in one line that immediately stops me in my tracks and makes me think.
Character and voice is also crucial. I’m a huge fan of Mick Herron’s Jackson Lamb, Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club cast and Lynda La Plante’s Jane Tennison. I’d really love to see more strong, memorable women in crime. In bookclub fiction, voices that have stayed with me are Adduni in The Girl With The Louding Voice, Cyril in The Heart’s Invisible Furies and Molly in The Maid. Recently, Kitty in How To Kill Men and Get Away With It had me secretly rooting for her serial killer antics.
I love to be engrossed by a pacy, twisty, surprising plot. It doesn’t need to be overly complex – sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. I want to be thrown curveballs I never saw coming and be kept guessing until the last page. Books I have devoured are Nightwatching, The Housemaid, The Last Mrs Parrish, Fourth Wing, None of This is True and American Dirt.
Books that play with genre also capture me. Novels such as Wrong Place, Wrong Time which combined a crime mystery and the story of a mother’s love with a speculative element and The Time Traveller’s Wife, a high-concept love story which crossed time and age.
I am a huge fan of true crime and would love to read a fiction version of podcasts I’ve been gripped by. I really enjoy cold cases being reopened as a result of new evidence or technology which exposes past injustices such as on Bone Valley, In The Dark or Who Killed Emma? I’m particularly drawn to stories of deep deception or ‘scams’ such as those by Anna Delvey or Coco Berthmann, Tinder Swindler or Fyre Festival. I’m always intrigued by anything involving investigation into cults, such as in BBC Sound’s World of Secrets.
I also love nothing more than sobbing my heart out over a book and being left emotionally wrung-out! Whether it be a devastating historical tragedy or star-crossed lovers torn apart by destiny. Books that have broken my heart include The Bridges of Madison County, The Kite Runner, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Birdsong, My Sister’s Keeper, Cilka’s Journey and Four Winds.
In non-fiction, I’m looking for an untold story or perspective or an unexplored area where you have expertise or real-life experience. As a reader of non-fiction I want to be engaged in a relatable, accessible way. I loved the evocative settings and personal journeys in The Salt Path and The Wild Other. The laugh-out-loud More Than A Woman had me ordering this for many friends. Three Women and Educated are brilliant examples of non-fiction books that read like fiction. The awe-inspiring Do No Harm stayed with me long after reading.
I am not looking for poetry, novellas, short story collections, screenplays, children’s or middle-grade books.
