Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1969, Carol Ann Lee graduated from Manchester University. Three years later, her first book, Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank was published to great acclaim, and has been published in fifteen countries to date.

She went on to write several more best-selling books, including biographies and fiction, returning to non-fiction in 2010 with One of Your Own: The Life and Death of Myra Hindley, A Fine Day for a Hanging (2012) and The Murders at White House Farm (2015).