John Lynch grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne and now lives in rural North Shropshire. Between those two places he’s lived and worked in international sales on every continent except Antarctica, starting when he went to the Bahamas at the age of twenty-one.
He’s always known he was a writer: when he was ten he stood on the stage of Benton Park Primary School in Newcastle to read to assembled parents and children a story he had written, but he was making up stories years before that.
John writes contemporary fiction, crime fiction, and historical fiction and he also works as a ghost writer – he’s written more than seventy books that have been published under other people’s names. He’s made a speciality of writing “the book of the film” for movie makers who want a book to sell when the film comes out.
His historical fiction deals with people at the bottom of the social heap: ‘You have to spend a lot of time in the archives to do that, because these are people whose stories are not readily available – but if you’re prepared to look, what reveals itself can be amazing.’
When he writes crime fiction his ending is often ambiguous leaving open the possibility that the guilty may get away with it. That, he says, is more in line with real life today than the idea that justice is always done.
You can find out more about John and his writing (including his pen names RJ Lynch and JJ Sullivan):
Below is the recording from the panel John has kindly taken part in…
The 12pm: Historical panel, the third panel of the 25 Jan 2026 Festival …
And was on the 23 Feb 2026 Mini-Fest – Plotting vs Pantsing panel…
And do watch Morgen’s chat with John about his writing journey… and lots of other topics besides…