Lauren St John was born in Rhodesia in 1966 and lived on a farm there until she was 16. She worked as a journalist for several years and has written biographies of sporting heroes and Nashville musicians - golf and country music being two of her obsessions - for Transworld, Picador and Fourth Estate. Her memoir of growing up during independence in Zimbabwe, Rainbow's End, was published by Hamish Hamilton in 2007. The White Giraffe series is published by Orion Children’s Books, as is her new detective series: The Laura Marlin Mysteries.