M.J. Carter is a highly acclaimed historical mystery author, biographer, historian, and journalist. She was born and raised in the United Kingdom and received her education at St. Paul's Girls' School and Exeter College, Oxford. After completing her education, she embarked on a career in publishing and journalism before turning her attention to writing.
Carter's first book, "Anthony Blunt: His Lives," was published in 2001 and quickly gained critical acclaim. The biography, which explored the life of the infamous Soviet spy and British art historian, won the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Orwell Prize, and was shortlisted for several other prestigious awards, including the Guardian First Book Award and the Whitbread Biography Award. In the United States, it was chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of the seven best books of 2002.
Following the success of "Anthony Blunt: His Lives," Carter went on to publish "The Three Emperors" (US title, "George, Nicholas and Wilhelm") in 2009. The book, which examines the lives of three European rulers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was shortlisted for the LA Time Biography prize and the Hesse-Tiltman History prize.
In addition to her non-fiction work, Carter has also turned her hand to historical mystery fiction. Her first thriller, "The Strangler Vine," was published in 2014 and is the first in a series set in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign. The second book in the series, "The Infidel Stain," followed in January 2015. Carter currently lives in London with her husband and two sons.