The Fifth Girl
An absolutely gripping crime thriller

About Paul J. Teague

"I'm Paul Teague, the author of the Don't Tell Meg trilogy and the 9-part Morecambe Bay series as well as several other standalone psychological thrillers such as Now You See Her, Dead of Night, One Last Chance, No More Secrets and So Many Lies. I'm a former broadcaster and journalist with the BBC, but I have also worked as a primary school teacher, a disc jockey, a shopkeeper, a waiter and a sales rep. I've read thrillers all my life, starting with Enid Blyton's Famous Five series as a child, then graduating to James Hadley Chase, Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay and Mark Edwards. I submitted my first book - Mr Plum & Mr Apple - to Penguin Books at age 9 in 1974. It was handwritten on a Basildon Bond notepad. Having received lots of encouraging advice in the rejection letter, I never really stopped writing, submitting short stories to the village magazine, the college magazine, and writing plays for performance at secondary school. I worked with the BBC as a radio reporter, presenter and producer for 19 years, and for much of that time presented two radio shows whilst based at BBC Radio Humberside. I started off writing thrillers with the Don’t Tell Meg Trilogy which draws upon my career in radio journalism. It’s fast-moving, high action and a bit racy in places, but it was great fun writing the story and I hope to re-visit the characters one day. My Morecambe Bay Trilogy is based in and around a traditional UK seaside resort and has proven very popular with readers who like a strong sense of location in their stories. My wife and I worked in the resort as students, and it was there that the seed for the first trilogy was born. My standalone books are ‘can’t-put-down’ stories where normal people find themselves in extraordinary situations. I also write sci-fi and dystopian novels as Paul Teague and these stories are set in dark and sinister future-worlds. I even have a few non-fiction books out, mainly on geeky, web-based topics. I live in Cumbria with my wife and family and I now write full-time. I run to stay healthy, being a keen parkrun enthusiast. I am also learning how to DJ and reviving a skill that I used to use to make money in my teenage years. My long-term aspiration is to specialise in 80s sets for British holidaymakers whilst spending the winter months in Benidorm."