Like her mystery series heroine Sarah McKinney, Exall grew up in England. She lived in France and Belgium before moving to Atlanta where she practiced employment law with leading firms and as in-house counsel. In 2006, she moved to the Pacific Northwest, and abandoned the law to devote herself to writing.  

She has published three Sarah McKinney mysteries. The second and third books in the series (A Dangerous Descent and A Splintered Step) won CIBA Clue Awards for international mystery. A Splintered Step was also a semi-finalist in Screencraft’s Cinematic Books competition.

Her latest mystery Six Degrees of Death was released in November 2024. Set in the Pacific Northwest during the dark days of winter, the story was inspired by the six degrees of separation theory: six strangers are linked by the death of a much-loved English professor.

Turning to historical fiction, Exall’s novel Daughters of Riga was published by the Wild Rose Press in February 2024. The novel is inspired by a true story of a Dutch diplomat who saved the lives of Jewish refugees during World War II. Daughters of Riga won the Hemingway award for 20th century wartime fiction.

As well as mysteries and historical fiction, Exall’s short stories, poetry and memoir has been published in anthologies: Memory into Memoir, Whatcom Writes, The Kumquat Challenge, So Much Depends Upon, and This Uncommon Solitude. Her memoir An Azure Year won the 2017 Solas Award for Best Travel Writing in the travel + food category.

Watch a recent interview with Marian Exall here.