Hannah Mary McKinnon Books in Order

Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in Manchester, England, to British and Swiss parents. When she was one, her family moved to Switzerland, where she spent most of her childhood and grew up surrounded by mountains, chocolate, cheese, and books.

She studied commercial subjects in Geneva, then began a working life that took a few turns before fiction became her full-time job. She worked as a personal assistant, became a purchasing manager for a high-tech company, and studied part-time for a Bachelor of Science while holding down a job.

Later, McKinnon joined a young IT recruitment business. Over about fifteen years, she worked her way up to chief executive officer. It was busy, practical work, and a long way from the quiet business of making up characters who lie to one another for a living.

Her personal life was moving just as quickly. She met her Canadian husband online in 1999, and after meeting in person, they married five months later. Their first son arrived in 2003, followed sixteen months later by identical twin boys.

Then the family moved to Oakville, Ontario, in 2010.

McKinnon tried starting an HR business, but it did not work out. Rather than returning to the corporate path, she used the setback as a chance to pursue the interest she had put aside for years: writing. Her first novel, Time After Time, arrived in 2016. It is a lighter, romantic story about a stressed lawyer who gets the chance to see how life might have unfolded with her former loves.

After that, McKinnon happily shifted into suspense. Her standalone thrillers often begin with an ordinary relationship or a familiar worry, then tighten the screws. In The Neighbors, old guilt returns when a woman’s former fiancé moves in nearby. Her Secret Son follows a grieving man who uncovers disturbing questions about the child he is raising. Sister Dear turns family grief and envy into a dangerous obsession, while You Will Remember Me uses amnesia, missing people, and tangled identities to keep everyone off balance.

Her later books lean into sharp premises and morally messy people. Never Coming Home follows a husband whose plan to murder his wealthy wife seems airtight until someone starts closing in. The Revenge List gives an angry woman a forgiveness list that becomes linked to a series of frightening accidents. Readers who enjoy domestic suspense, hidden histories, family secrets, and characters making very bad choices will find plenty to dig into.

McKinnon also writes holiday romantic comedies as Holly Cassidy, including The Christmas Wager and The Christmas Countdown. She lives near Toronto with her husband and three sons, and still has a soft spot for Switzerland’s mountains, cheese, chocolate, and a good book.