Hi, I’m Alastair Puddick. I write funny books, usually with a bit of crime, hijinks, murder or a good old caper. Click on the link to my books to see what they’re all about.

I’ve always loved writing and have been a professional writer for more than 20 years now. I started out writing for a selection of different magazines, and I’m still writing professionally now, as a copy and content writer for an advertising firm.

My first novel, The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring, was published back in 2014. The road to seeing that book in print was a tough one, and like most novelists, I have a huge stack of rejections from literary agents and publishers to prove it. But I really believed in that book, so I kept on going, and finally a small publisher called Raven Crest Books liked it enough to publish it. 

We built up a great working relationship, and over the next few years, Raven Crest Published my next three novels.

In 2016, Killing Dylan was my first attempt at a proper murder mystery. While TUVOGT isn’t really a crime novel as such, it features some crime and I got a taste for it. And when I thought up the irascible anti-hero Freddie Winters, and a good crime for him to solve, I knew that had to be my next book.

That was followed in 2019 by 46% Better Than Dave, a story about a man who goes off the rails when he gets obsessed with his new neighbour, who just happens to have the same name. This one was more of a straight comedy book and I was absolutely over the moon when it was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. It’s a pretty prestigious prize, and some of my favourite writers and favourite books have either won it or been shortlisted for it. So, being in that company was very special indeed.

In 2023, I decided to give Freddie Winters another outing and wrote Murder All Inclusive. It’s another comedy crime novel, in which Freddie has to catch a killer at a writers’ retreat in a fancy Spanish holiday resort. 

My latest book, For Best Results Follow Instructions, was published by Next Chapter Publishing in 2026. It’s my first attempt at a speculative thriller. Taking inspiration from other speculative fiction, and TV shows like Black Mirror and Severance, I had an idea for a novel about Artificial Intelligence. It’s a dark, satirical thriller, but I think it’s also pretty funny – and hopefully not something that will come true.

So, what’s next? Well, I recently completed another darkly humourous crime thriller set in an office. It’s currently out on submission and I hope to find the right publishing home for it soon. And, of course, I’m working on a new book, too. But that’s all under wraps for now.