Jo Bannister is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 crime fiction

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...

 novelist. At present, she lives in Northern Ireland.

Life and work

She began her career as a journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, and rose to become editor of the County Down Spectator

County Down Spectator

The County Down Spectator and Ulster Standard is a weekly newspaper based in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. It generally serves the area covered by the North Down parliamentary constituency...

  before resigning in order to devote all her time to her writing. She has had over 30 novels published both in English, and translated into several other languages.
Most of these belong to five series, while nine (at present) are standalone novels.
Her books are well reviewed, with the New York Times, for example, referring to her "solid series of British police procedurals", and praising the Castlemere novels for their "superb character work" in the context of a "deeply satisfying series".

Clio Rees and Harry Marsh novels

• Striving with Gods (aka An Uncertain Death) (1984)
• Gilgamesh (1989)
• The Going Down of the Sun (1989)
• The Fifth Cataract (2005)

Mickey Flynn novels

• Shards (aka Critical Angle) (1990)
• Death and Other Lovers (1991)

Castlemere novels

• A Bleeding of Innocents (1993)
• Charisma (aka Sins of the Heart) (1994)
• A Taste for Burning (aka Burning Desires) (1995)
• No Birds Sing (1996)
• Broken Lines (1998)
• The Hireling's Tale (1999)
• Changelings (2000)

Brodie Farrell novels

• Echoes of Lies (2001)
• True Witness (2002)
• Reflections (2003)
• The Depths of Solitude (2004)
• Breaking Faith (2005)
• Requiem for a Dealer (2006)
• Flawed (2007)
• Closer Still (2008)
• Liars All (2009)

Standalone Novels

• The Matrix (1981)
• The Winter Plain (1982)
• A Cactus Garden (1983)
• Mosaic (1986)
• The Mason Codex (aka Unlawful Entry) (1988)
• The Lazarus Hotel (1996)
• Tinderbox (2006)
• From Fire and Flood (2007)
• Fathers and Sins (2008)