Gemma O'Connor is an Irish mystery writer born in Dublin in 1940. In 1995 she published her first mystery story which became successful. Educated in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, she lived in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, where she worked as a bookbinder, restorator and stewardess before becoming a writer. O'Connor and eighteen other female Irish writers contributed short stories for the 2005 collection, Irish Girls Are Back in Town.