Anna Downes grew up in Sheffield, UK. She studied drama at the University of Manchester before winning a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and moving to London to pursue an acting career that includes credits in EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, and Dalziel and Pascoe, as well as a long-running stage production of The Dresser in London’s West End. Anna’s internationally bestselling debut novel, THE SAFE PLACE, was published simultaneously in Australia, the US and the UK in 2020 and was shortlisted for the 2021 Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards. Her second book, THE SHADOW HOUSE, was published in 2021 in Australia and New Zealand followed by publication in the UK and the USA in 2022. Anna has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Life Magazine and CrimeReads, and her books have been translated into ten different languages. She now lives on the Central Coast with her husband and two children.