Stig Abell

Stephen “Stig” Paul Abell was born on 10 April 1980 in Nottingham, England. He studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a double first – a background that instilled both a deep love of literature and a journalist’s instinct for getting to the heart of a story.

His career in media has been remarkably varied: he joined the Press Complaints Commission in 2001 and rose to become its director in 2010, served as managing editor of The Sun from 2013 to 2016, then spent four years as editor of the venerable Times Literary Supplement. He currently co-presents the breakfast show on Times Radio alongside Kate McCann. His first book, How Britain Really Works, was a non-fiction exploration of British institutions published in 2018.

“I love detective novels above any other form of storytelling – film, theatre, or television.”

In 2023, Abell finally wrote a detective novel of his own. Death Under a Little Sky introduces Jake Jackson, a high-flying London detective who inherits a remote smallholding from a reclusive uncle and seizes the chance at a quieter life in the fictional hamlet of Caelum Parvum. When a village treasure hunt unearths human remains, Jake is drawn back into the world of investigation – this time surrounded by the beauty and suspicion of the English countryside.

Death in a Lonely Place followed in 2024, with The Burial Place arriving after that, establishing the Jake Jackson series as a growing favourite among readers who appreciate mysteries steeped in landscape, literary allusion, and richly drawn rural communities.

Quick Facts

• Education: Double first in English, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
• Media career: Editor of the TLS, managing editor of The Sun
• Current role: Times Radio presenter
• Debut novel: Death Under a Little Sky (2023)
• Non-fiction: How Britain Really Works (2018)

What sets Abell apart is the literary polish he brings to the genre. His prose is elegant without being showy, his pacing deliberate but never sluggish, and his portrayal of the English countryside feels lived-in rather than picturesque.