Helen Taylor (she/her) is a crime fiction author whose thrillers are grounded in real places, real experiences, and a detective readers follow across continents. Her DI Matthew Goodwin series blends British police procedural grit with international mystery, taking readers from the jungles of Thailand to the quiet lanes of Surrey, the decks of a Hawaiian cruise ship, and the wild expanse of Patagonia.
Her debut novel, Thai Die, became an Amazon No. 1 Bestseller in International Crime & Mystery and reached the Top 5 in Crime Thrillers on the free charts — a launch that introduced readers to her signature blend of authenticity, atmosphere, and emotional depth.
Helen’s stories are shaped by a life lived widely. She spent a year in Thailand, has travelled extensively, and draws heavily on real experiences: the Surrey train lines she once commuted on, her time at sea, and the 100‑mile charity cycle ride she completed along the 2012 Olympic Road Race route. In 2024, she fulfilled a childhood dream of joining a real cattle drive — an adventure that became the heartbeat of Don’t Die for Me, Argentina, where fiction and lived experience collide in a modern western thriller.
Alongside her novels, Helen hosts a podcast exploring the real stories behind her fiction, sharing diary excerpts, travel memories, and the sparks that became twists on the page. Readers come for the mystery, but stay for the authenticity — the sense that every setting has been lived in and every case carries a heartbeat.
Helen splits her time between the UK and Crete and currently works full‑time, transitioning to full‑time writing later this year. She is building a 15‑book world around DI Goodwin and his evolving team, writing three books a year with the aim of creating crime thrillers that feel real, characters who stay with you, and stories that take readers somewhere new every time.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: helentaylorauthor.co.uk or helentaylorauthor.com
FB: Helen Taylor Author
IG: Helen_Taylor_Author
TikTok: @HelenTaylorAuthor
(Podcast) YouTube channel: @HelenTaylorAuthor
(Podcast) Apple Music: The Story Behind My Stories
Booklinks – all on Amazon and these links take you to the relevant amazon marketplace:
Thai Die
Connecting Trains
Aloha Goodbye
Lethal Leith Hill
Don’t Die For Me, Argentina
The Story Behind My Stories: Thai Die
Goodreads: Helen Taylor Author Page
All links to ARC signup, Podcast, Newsletter Signup, Indie Author Book Review Requests etc are on Taylor’s website or linktr.ee/helentaylorauthor
Book Pitch for Book Clubs/Readers:
Inspired by a real cattle drive in Patagonia, Don’t Die for Me, Argentina throws DI Goodwin into the heart of a modern western.
What begins as a routine security conference takes a darker turn when Penny joins a remote cattle‑drive holiday — unaware that organised‑crime operatives are riding beside her, hunting a target they haven’t yet identified.
As the group pushes deeper into the Patagonian wilderness and the danger closes in, Goodwin is forced to confront a threat far beyond the conference walls, where the vast landscape hides both the hunters and the truth.
Your latest release came out this month (May 2026), Don’t Die for Me, Argentina. This is the latest in the Detective Inspector Matthew Goodwin series, also featuring Detective Constable Penny Stock, and set in Patagonia. Where did the inspiration for this latest thriller come from?
My childhood firstly where I had horses and always wanted to be a cowgirl and then in 2024 I found the perfect cattle drive across Patagonia, somewhere I had always wanted to go. It fulfilled my childhood dream but then also created the perfect back drop for the tech queen in Goodwin’s team to be off grid and in danger.
Can people jump into your thriller series with this latest book? If new readers wanted to pick up the series as a whole, where does the books chronologically begin, and which countries do they all feature?
Yes, each thriller is very much standalone, and all fall into slightly different subgenres. The international cases are more solo thriller/detective-based, whereas the Surrey based ones are much more police procedural and embrace the whole team.
The first in the series and first chronologically is Thai Die, set in Thailand.
The second is the first UK one and set between Guildford and Weybridge.
The third is a closed mystery set aboard a cruise ship sailing to Hawaii with three of the islands included. The fourth back in Surrey, set in the Surrey Hills an area of outstanding natural beauty then the 5th is set in Argentina.
What research and experiences went into this latest book – and where can readers hear more about your real life experiences?
All of my books are based on my own experience so I do not need to do as much research as others might. It is all drawn from my life, just exaggerated, twisted or tainted with nasty characters to make it a fiction thriller.
I do go into all the details of those experiences in my podcast and starting a companion series of The Story Behind My Stories where I go into all of these experiences and how I used them in my novels.
The books don’t just span continents, they also deal with a wide range of emotional turbulence and mental and physical health issues. How does this book, Don’t Die For Me, Argentina, continue to deliver the psychological suspense and emotional drama?
This one I feel actually uses something all of us that live in the modern world, no matter who you are will be able to feel.
We are all so connected with phones, email, internet, social media……but in this one ….. everyone knows the fear of suddenly being unreachable or unable to reach out.
Now imagine that feeling in the middle of Patagonia, with the wrong men riding beside you.
Can you tell us more about DC Penny Stock – for those new to the series, is she a recurring character with her own arc, or is she new to this book? How did you develop her character, and what led you to make her one of your main characters for this particular story?
Penny is the tech guru in Goodwin’s team. She joins his team, having worked with him previously, in Connecting Trains, and she is sharp featured, sharp tongued with short spiky hair. She’s petite and always connected – a fully digital and super smart software engineer.
She does all the analysis for the crimes and tries to bring the rest of the team into the digital age!
In Aloha Goodbye she helps Goodwin from the UK when in solving the case onboard the Pearl of the Pacific – he needs a data whizz and tech expertise, specifically in tracking software. She throws something together for him.
I don’t want Goodwin to be always going ‘on holiday’ and people being murdered so only Aloha Goodbye is that. Thai Die, he goes to repair his relationship with his daughter who is travelling.
In Don’t Die for Me, Argentina I couldn’t see Goodwin on a horse plus as I say I don’t want it always to be him on holiday. So as with DC Angela Phillips featured at the start of Lethal Leith Hill, it needed to be someone else, and not someone new. You needed to know her and Goodwin needed to know her and be invested in her character, specifically her always on/tech side to then be able to understand how she feels when she is off grid.
None of the rest of the team were suitable or not at their current life stage for this book, though Paul Neils having just had a baby in Lethal Leith Hill will feature in Slaying in Lapland later this year.
Penny was perfect and as she wrote the software in Aloha Goodbye, then she could go with Goodwin to do a demo of the software at a South American Security Conference in Buenos Aires. She was perfect and she also has some of my traits, having worked in IT my whole life, I could write her on that trip as close to the reality of it as I could.
If you had to describe DI Goodwin in 5 words in this book, what would they be? Has he changed much from the man whom readers met in Thai Die?
Astute, tech-ignorant, thoughtful, engaging, fatherly.
Yes he has come a long way – he’d never wanted to go to Thailand or Asia and went for his daughter, travelling wasn’t his thing and he was very out of his depth as a person, not a detective. He was grief stricken. He’s healed relationships and himself bit by bit along the next few books, meeting a new woman, growing emotionally. He also has developed a love of stepping out of his comfort zone now rather than playing it safe.
Can you share some of your favourite reviews and reader comments from the series?
Thai Die: ‘The writing is clear and easy to follow, and the story moves quickly. It’s an interesting plot with plenty of momentum, blending mystery and thriller elements into one gripping read.’
‘I generally do not read thrillers, but I was recommended by a friend, and it did not disappoint. Very easy reading, I got straight into the story and was gripped, nice little twist at the end.’
Connecting Trains: ‘This is a thoughtful crime novel that will appeal to readers who enjoy team-based investigations, psychologically driven mysteries, and stories where character growth is as important as the case itself.’
‘Really enjoyed this book, especially because it was placed in a part of England I’m familiar with. Looking forward to the next one in the series’
Aloha Goodbye: ‘This book is a tightly woven, atmospheric mystery that keeps you hooked from the first chapter.’
‘Omg Helen Taylor has amazed me yet again!!! Another absolutely fantastic read, which I took on holiday with me, it kept me guessing right to the very end…. An excitable, unpredictable journey aboard a cruise ship which had our wonderful detective and his lovely lady on their toes every nautical mile of their journey … bring on the next instalment.’
Lethal Leith Hill: ‘I liked everything about it: very contemporary, very British, very well-done characters, and interesting setting.’
‘Omg, another fab book by Helen Taylor. I love the gripping suspense of who done it. This series of books are just getting better and better. Roll on the next. They are all a must read.’
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