Vicky J Payne

Born within the sound of Bow Bells, Vicky is a writer, editor, and proud Londoner.

Her writing career began in Belfast during The Troubles, where she worked as a journalist covering some of the most turbulent years in Northern Ireland’s history. Alongside her time at the BBC, Vicky has spent a lifetime as a freelance writer, contributing features from celebrity profiles to in-depth investigations, writing something every day for longer than she cares to admit. She also wrote a Radio 4 play starring Frances Barber and Geoffrey Whitehead.

Her Wild Justice Trilogy follows three interconnected lives as they confront the dark consequences of smuggling, money laundering, and the afterlife of weapons left behind after conflict. Drawing on real events and meticulous research, Vicky’s novels blend recent history with gripping storytelling, revealing how ordinary people are pulled into extraordinary danger.

When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found walking or disappearing down research rabbit holes about geopolitics, crime, and the strange ways power moves behind the scenes. The Assassin’s Head and The Helsinki Ferry are available now, with the final instalment, The Farringdon Cabal, currently in progress.

She lives south of the Thames with her husband, Andrew, and a boisterous boxerdor.