Website: www.lucyandrew.com
X: @LucyVAndrew
Instagram: @drlucyandrew
Bluesky: @lucyvandrew.bsky.social
Check out our #Agent121 page to book an appointment.
Lucy Andrew is a crime writer and crime fiction scholar who has an unhealthy fixation with Jane Austen. She is a former Senior Lecturer in English Literature and has a PhD in English Literature from Cardiff University. Her debut novel, A Very Vexing Murder – a cosy crime retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma featuring con-woman-turned-detective Harriet Smith – will be published by Corvus (Atlantic Books) in the UK on 5th March 2026 and by William Morrow (HarperCollins) in the US on 12th May 2026.
IAIP: What was the inspiration behind your debut novel, A Very Vexing Murder?
LA: I became obsessed with Jane Austen when I studied Emma at A-Level and the initial idea for A Very Vexing Murder came from a homework exercise where our English teacher asked us to write a piece of Emma fan fiction. I worked with my friend Becky and we were both very suspicious of the convenient timing of Mrs Churchill’s death, which allowed Frank Churchill to marry a woman his aunt would have found thoroughly unsuitable. So we decided to write a piece accusing Frank Churchill of his aunt’s murder. It’s not quite what our teacher had in mind, but the suspicion about Mrs Churchill’s death never left me and so, twenty years later, I returned to the idea and considered what would happen if we were right: what if Mrs Churchill’s death wasn’t a conveniently timed illness, but cold-blooded murder? If I was going to investigate this possibility, I knew I needed a brilliant detective – someone who could operate within the fabric of Highbury society, but would never be suspected of being a secret detective genius. Enter: Harriet Smith, Emma’s clueless protégé, and the last person in Highbury who would ever be suspected of genius! But, for the concept to work, Harriet would have to be very different to Austen’s character. And that’s when I had the idea to make Harriet a con-woman. What if sweet, simple Harriet Smith was an act – a performance by the real Harriet to ensure that she could go about her investigative work undetected? And, of course, she needed a sidekick, so that’s where the long-suffering Robert Martin came in. Once I had that sorted, the rest started to fall into place.
IAIP: Was this the first book you attempted?
LA: No! In fact, this wasn’t the first time I attempted this book! A Very Vexing Murder went through three completely different iterations before it got picked up by a literary agent. It actually started off life as a Young Adult project, but the version that got me an agent was adult cosy crime. Before starting this project, I wrote a Terry-Pratchett-esque children’s fantasy novel, a children’s poetry collection of Shakespeare retellings as a homage to Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, an Alex-Rider-style middle-grade adventure novel, a YA Victorian paranormal detective novel, and a Christmas chapter book about my grumpy, septuagenarian tortoise! Let’s just say it took me a while to find my own voice!
IAIP: How long did it take you to write?
LA: That’s a good question! I wrote the first draft of version three of A Very Vexing Murder in about three months and then spent another six months or so on editing, but I started the first draft of this project in 2018 and got my agent and book deal in 2024.
IAIP: How did you end up finding your agent / securing a publishing deal?
LA: I was in the query trenches for a few years with this project and got some full manuscript requests and useful feedback, but things really changed for me when I started entering competitions. My novel was shortlisted for the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers’ Prize in 2023 and I got some really helpful feedback from PMJ editor Joel Richardson. I then got selected for Pitch Perfect at Bloody Scotland in 2023 and was highly commended in the Case Closed First Chapter Competition with Spread the Word in 2024. I was also submitting my manuscript to agents at this point and participating in #Agent121s and I had some full manuscript requests from this. But the agent offer, when it came, was a complete surprise. I had entered the AM Heath Criminal Lines competition and got an email from Euan Thorneycroft at AM Heath saying that I was the runner-up in the competition, but also offering me representation. I had to read the email about ten times to be sure that this was what he was saying! I was so shocked because he’d only seen 10,000 words of the project and I was worried that he might not like the rest! But I sent him the full manuscript and went to meet with him in London and had a good, long chat. I did have another agent offer, and some other agents who hadn’t got back to me on the full manuscript, but I decided that Euan was the right agent for me. That was in February 2024. We went out on submission in June 2024 and I got my offer from Corvus (Atlantic Books) in July 2024. We then submitted the manuscript to some US publishers and several of them were interested so we went to auction, which was very exciting! I signed a two-book deal with William Morrow (HarperCollins) in September 2024.
IAIP: What has happened since that offer of representation / publication?
LA: A lot! The biggest thing for me is that I quit my full-time academic job to focus on my writing. It’s not a decision I took lightly, but it coincided with a change in location of my job which meant a two-hour commute each way, which didn’t feel sustainable. My US deal came in just as I started this commute and so it felt like the right time to take the leap. Becoming an author has always been my dream, so I wanted to give myself the best possible chance of succeeding and, for me, that meant throwing as much time and energy into my writing and writing-related activities as possible.
I’ve started speaking at events at festivals and I’ve also been working hard on book two in the Harriet Smith Investigates series, which will see Harriet and her trusty sidekick, Robert Martin, travel to Bath to investigate a murder within the plot of Northanger Abbey. The best thing about this is that I’ve had lots of trips to Bath for research!
I’ve also been able to connect with local writing communities. I’m a member of the Room 204 Writing Development programme with Writing West Midlands, I’m co-organiser of the Society of Authors West Midlands group and I’m Lead Writer for the Shrewsbury Spark Young Writers’ Group, run by Writing West Midlands. I also volunteer at my local library in Wolverhampton and run a monthly creative writing group here. I’ve got lots of events lined up for my debut year. You can find out more on my website: https://www.lucyandrew.com/events
IAIP: You took part in a few #Agent121 sessions to help strengthen your book. Do you believe that these helped you secure your agent? If so, in what ways did they help?
LA: The #Agent121 sessions definitely had a big impact on helping me to secure an agent. Firstly, these sessions enabled me to gain expert feedback on my work that ensured my agent submission package became as strong as possible. Secondly, it gave me practice and confidence in pitching my work and putting myself out there. The more I pitched, the clearer I was on my novels USPs, and my own! Thirdly, I actually got some full manuscript requests from my #Agent121s and this, in turn, strengthened my query package as I was able to indicate that I already had full manuscript requests when I sent out my work to other agents. In a lovely full-circle moment, the first agent who gave me feedback on A Very Vexing Murder in an #Agent121 session works for AM Heath, the agency I signed with, and was in the office when I had my meeting with Euan. She had offered me some brilliant advice on my opening chapters which really helped to strengthen my novel when I submitted to agents and competitions.
IAIP: Roughly how many rejections did you receive before becoming agented?
LA: Too many to count! And I didn’t! But, across the three versions of A Very Vexing Murder, I must have had at least 50 rejections – some of them personalised rejections, but many more of them form rejections. On top of this, there were plenty of agents I never heard back from.
IAIP: What have you learned about the publishing industry since you published your book?
LA: Not everything is within your control. There are so many people involved in publishing a book and while, as the author, you are the expert in what you’ve written, you’re unlikely to have all the skills needed to package, publicise and market your book. Trust the experts!
Saying that, there are lots of things you can do to help your publisher to sell your book. Whether its making contacts, running events, engaging on social media or setting up your own website, there are things you can do to get your book out to a wider audience and to make things as easy as possible for your publishing team to get your work out into the world.
Rejection doesn’t stop when you get an agent or a book deal. Learning how to accept rejection is an important part of being an author (as is learning how to respond to expert feedback).
Commercial appeal is really important. Of course, you should focus on writing something you’re passionate about and making it the best book it can be but, ultimately, it needs to appeal to a sizeable but specific audience.
Things can happen very slowly in the publishing world. There’s a lot of waiting involved but, as an author, there’s also an expectation for a quick turnaround on work when things do start to happen. So be prepared to be patient but then to react quickly to meet deadlines!
IAIP: What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to get published?
LA: Get your work and yourself out into the world as much as possible. Join writing communities where you can share your work and get feedback on it. Attend literary festivals and writing conferences if you can. Seek out opportunities – cast the net wide. Things really changed for me when I started submitting work to competitions, sharing my work with other writers and getting feedback at #Agent121s. When entering competitions, look for competitions that fit in with the type of writing you are producing – when I started getting some competition success, it was in crime fiction competitions specifically. Also look out for mentoring opportunities that might be attached to competitions. Through placing on competition shortlists, I got feedback on my novel from agents and crime fiction editors, which meant that my book was in good shape by the time I got my agent and went out on submission to publishers.
Get to know other writers if you can, particularly those who have already been through the publishing journey. This doesn’t have to be in person – lots of authors have newsletters, social media pages etc where you can interact with them and follow their experiences. And try to create your own little writers’ support group with others who are looking to get published. Both success and rejection feels that little bit better when you have someone to share it with who knows what you’re going through and how much time, heart and energy you’re putting into your writing.
Most importantly. Never give up. Persistence and self-belief are key in this business. Do listen to feedback, particularly if you’re hearing the same thing from several people, and hone your craft, change your approach if necessary, but don’t ever stop believing that you will get there.
IAIP: Do you have any tips on making the most of an #Agent121 or from entering a competition?
LA: The best way to make the most of an #Agent121 is to be as prepared as you can be. Hone your pitch letter, your chapters and your synopsis. Get feedback from other writers, where possible, before you submit your work for an #Agent121.
When selecting your agent, choose carefully. Research the agent beyond their profile on the #Agent121 website. Look at their social media, if they have any, and their profile on their agency’s website. Look at their client list. Think about how that agent is a good fit for your work and make sure you personalise your query letter and show them that you’ve done your research.
You should go into your #Agent121 with a clear idea of what you want to get out of it. The session can go very quickly, so have some questions written down. Make it clear at the beginning of your 121 if you have particular things that you would like to discuss. List your questions in priority order as you may not get through all of them. Try not to get sidetracked with long explanations about where the idea for your book came from. Get right to the point and, if the agent isn’t covering aspects of your work that you really want feedback on, politely steer the conversation towards these areas.
Don’t go into the session expecting to get a full manuscript request out of it. It might happen, but the session isn’t a failure if it doesn’t. Look at it as an opportunity to get some expert feedback to improve your query package and, if the agent seems interested but doesn’t ask to see more, it’s fine to ask them if they would be interested in seeing your query package after you have implemented any necessary changes. And, if you do submit to this agent at a later date, do mention in your query letter that you’ve had a 121 with them.
As for competitions, try to find specialist competitions that link to the genre/form/style in which you’re writing where possible. Look at who is running the competition and what benefits you might gain from winning or being shortlisted. Set yourself a competition budget for the year – it’s very easy to spend a lot of money on competition entry fees and get nothing in return. Beware of very high fees – check that the competition is being run by a reputable organisation and that the prizes/opportunities on offer are worth the price of entry. Read the terms and conditions of competitions carefully and also ensure that you stick to the rules – in relation to word count, closing date, etc. Most importantly, ensure that your work fits the competition/category that you are entering. You want to give yourself the best possible chance at succeeding.
Website: www.lucyandrew.com
X: @LucyVAndrew
Instagram: @drlucyandrew
Bluesky: @lucyvandrew.bsky.social
Check out our #Agent121 page to book an appointment.