William Hussey (born 15 July 1977) is an English author of horror, crime, thrillers and LGBTQIA+ YA novels. His novels include Hideous Beauty (2020) and The Outrage (2021), the Killing Jericho (2023–2025) trilogy and The Boy I Love (2025).
Early life and education Hussey was born in Hounslow, West London. His father was from the Traveller community and a member of the Showmen's Guild; his family had been active on fairgrounds for at least 200 years. Hussey lived a "seasonally peripatetic" lifestyle around London and the South East until age 12, when his family settled in Skegness, Lincolnshire.
After graduating from university, Hussey pursued law at a firm in North Yorkshire. He quit and went on to graduate with a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing from Sheffield Hallam University.
Career Under the name Bill Hussey, he published his debut and second novels Through a Glass, Darkly and The Absence in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Announced in 2009, Oxford University Press acquired the rights to publish Hussey's Witchfinder trilogy, starting with Dawn of the Demontide in 2010. The standalone novels Haunted, The Nightmare Eater and Jekyll's Mirror followed.
Hussey returned in 2020 with the publication of Hideous Beauty, a young adult (YA) romance novel, via Usborne Books. Hideous Beauty was shortlisted for a CrimeFest Award and a Diverse Book Award. His dystopian YA novel The Outrage was published in 2021 and also shortlisted for a CrimeFest Award.
Via a three-book deal in 2022, Zaffre (a Bonnier Books imprint) acquired the rights to publish Hussey's adult thriller Killing Jericho in 2023, while he reunited with Usborne Books for the publication of YA rom com Broken Hearts and Zombie Parts. Killing Jericho won the Fingerprint Award for Genre-Busting Crime Book of the Year and was shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the Polari Prize. The third installment in the Killing Jericho trilogy titled Burying Jericho was longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.
Hussey moved to Andersen Press in 2024 for the publication of The Boy I Love in 2025, a World War I romance.The Boy I Love was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the YA Book Prize.
Personal life Hussey is gay. He lives with his partner Chris.
Publications Witchfinder
Killing Jericho
Standalone novels Through a Glass, Darkly (2008) The Absence (2009)
Short stories "Turn Her Face to the Wall" (2013)
Accolades +YearAwardCategoryTitleResult 2021 CrimeFest Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults Hideous Beauty Diverse Book Awards Young Adult 2022 CrimeFest Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults The Outrage 2024 Fingerprint Awards Genre-Busting Crime Book of the Year Killing Jericho Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Polari Prize Book of the Year 2026 Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Awards Steel Dagger Burying Jericho Carnegie Medal The Boy I Love YA Book Prize
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