Rachel Abbott is a British author of psychological thrillers. Her first three self-published novels have combined to sell over one million copies, and have all been bestsellers on Amazon's Kindle store.Abbott was born in Worsley, Manchester, England and grew up in nearby Swinton. She was educated at Moorside Primary School and Eccles Grammar School. After leaving school she worked in a number of roles - from secretary to training manager - before returning to college in Manchester to train as a systems analyst.Abbott's father ran his own business as a butchers' outfitter, and she, her mother and sister both worked in the business. A year after qualifying as a systems analyst in 1981 Abbott decided to establish her own company to develop interactive software for schools. Over the next twenty years the company grew into a medium sized interactive media company, developing software and websites for education and was sold in 2000.Following the sale, Abbott moved from her home in Saddleworth, Lancashire, England, to Italy, where she restored a 15th-century Italian monastery that for a time she and her husband operated as a venue for weddings and group holidays.In 2009, Rodgers decided to write a book about an ordinary woman put into a situation where she had no other option but to commit murder. It took Rodgers 18 months to write the first draft. In November 2011, after it was rejected by several literary agents, Rodgers, then 59, self-published her first novel, Only the Innocent, on Amazon, under the pen name Rachel Abbott. The book sold slowly at first, but her experience in business left her well qualified to crack the self-publishing market and sales took off after Abbott put together a strong marketing campaign.Abbott followed up Only the Innocent in 2013 with The Back Road and in 2014 with Sleep Tight. Her fourth novel, Stranger Child, was published on February 24, 2015. All four books focus on relationships, crime and the dark nature which lurks inside us all. "Everyone's had murderous thoughts," says Abbott. "I like to focus on the events which tip people over the precipice and into the void." The books feature the same character detective, Chief Inspector Tom Douglas. Abbott has described him as "a genuinely honest, nice guy who just seems to be attracted to the wrong women."By 2015, Abbott's first three novels, all self-published in the UK, had combined to sell one million copies. All three have been bestsellers in Amazon's Kindle store. Amazon has said that Rachel Abbott is one of its most successful self-published UK authors; she is Amazon's number one e-book seller in crime and thriller writing. Working with an agent since 2012, she self-publishes in the UK, and her first two books through Thomas and Mercer in North America. Her books have been translated into twelve different languages
