Sam Blake is the pen name of Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin, a successful Irish mystery author and a prominent literary coach. She was born in St. Albans, UK, and later moved to Scotland after getting married to Shane O'Loughlin, a member of the Irish Police. Initially, Blake worked in event management and later founded Inkwell Writers Workshops, a program that brought together bestselling authors to teach aspiring writers. As the economic crisis hit Ireland in 2008, she transformed her company into a publishing consultancy named The Inkwell Group. Blake's writing career took off when she signed a three-book deal with Bonnier Twenty7 in 2015 to write a series set in Dublin featuring Cat Connolly, a Garda detective. Her debut novel, "Little Bones," was published in 2016 and quickly became a bestseller in Ireland. In 2020, she published "Keep Your Eyes on Me," a standalone thriller, which also became an Irish Times bestseller. Blake is also the host of the "Behind the Bestseller" podcast, where she interviews bestselling authors from various genres.
Blake has been writing fiction since 1999, when her husband went sailing across the Atlantic for eight weeks, and she had an idea for a book. Her debut novel, "Little Bones," was a runaway success, and she has since become an Eason No 1 bestseller for ten weeks and an Irish Times No 1 for six weeks. In addition, both "Little Bones" and "The Dark Room" were shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year in 2016 and 2021, respectively. Blake has moved away from police procedurals and now focuses on writing bestselling psychological thrillers with strong female characters. Her latest No 1 bestseller is "Remember My Name." Blake's writing is known for creating genuine page-turners with metronomic timing, making her books popular among readers and critics alike. She currently lives at the foot of the Wicklow mountains in Ireland and is active on social media under the handle @samblakebooks.