Novelist and former Guardian journalist Susie Steiner dies at 51

The novelist and former Guardian journalist Susie Steiner, known for the Manon Bradshaw detective series, has died aged 51.

A tweet posted from her account yesterday said: “Susie died yesterday after being diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago. She lived with her illness with courage and good humour. She was much loved and will be much missed.”

Steiner grew up in north London and studied English at university. She went on to train as a journalist and worked in newspapers for 20 years. In 2001 she joined the Guardian, where she was a staff writer and editor for 11 years, specialising in lifestyle features.

Her debut novel, Homecoming, was published by Faber & Faber to critical acclaim in 2013. But it was her second, the literary crime novel Missing, Presumed which introduced Detective Manon Bradshaw and saw her join the bestseller lists.

The novel was shortlisted for the Theakston’s crime novel of the year. Its sequel Persons Unknown followed, again to great acclaim, and was longlisted for the Theakston’s. The third in the Manon trilogy, Remain Silent, was published in 2020.

Philip Pullman described the Manon Bradshaw novels as “police procedural with real imagination and heart and a marvellous lightness of style and wit”.

Steiner wrote extensively about losing her eyesight to retinitis pigmentosa, or RP – a hereditary disease – and was registered fully blind just six months after her “lifelong dream came true” when her first novel sold in a publishing auction.

In May 2019 she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and in June 2020 she wrote in the Guardian of her experience of being treated for the disease during lockdown, detailing how books had been her “lifeline”.