Katie McGuire - Editor
For five years, I was an editor at a small indie house, working on mysteries, historical fiction, and select nonfiction projects.
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Overview
I started at Pegasus Books in the summer of 2014 and had the great opportunity to acquire a number of fascinating titles and work with some incredible authors on bringing their book to the reading public.
For five of my six years with Pegasus, the company's crime imprint was my focus—I love a good mystery! I've worked on a number of subgenres, including neo-noir, more traditional mysteries, and cozy crime, and have had the pleasure of working with fantastic authors like Antony Johnston, William Boyle, S. J. Rozan, Paul Vidich, and Molly MacRae.
On the fiction side, I've also worked on a number of historical fiction projects and select graphic novels. No matter the genre, I'm open to both standalone projects and books in a series. In the nonfiction realm, I've worked on narrative history, biography/memoir, and true crime projects. You can see my full list of projects below.
My reading interests at home are a bit broader than the Pegasus list allowed, so I'd also love to work on science fiction and fantasy manuscripts. I'll read anything having to do with spies, royalty, or Hollywood, real or imagined, and, as an enormous comics nerd, I also enjoy a good superhero tale.
I'm looking forward to hearing your story!
For five of my six years with Pegasus, the company's crime imprint was my focus—I love a good mystery! I've worked on a number of subgenres, including neo-noir, more traditional mysteries, and cozy crime, and have had the pleasure of working with fantastic authors like Antony Johnston, William Boyle, S. J. Rozan, Paul Vidich, and Molly MacRae.
On the fiction side, I've also worked on a number of historical fiction projects and select graphic novels. No matter the genre, I'm open to both standalone projects and books in a series. In the nonfiction realm, I've worked on narrative history, biography/memoir, and true crime projects. You can see my full list of projects below.
My reading interests at home are a bit broader than the Pegasus list allowed, so I'd also love to work on science fiction and fantasy manuscripts. I'll read anything having to do with spies, royalty, or Hollywood, real or imagined, and, as an enormous comics nerd, I also enjoy a good superhero tale.
I'm looking forward to hearing your story!
Languages
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Entertainment
History
True Crime
Fiction
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Mystery & Crime
Thriller & Suspense
Work experience
Editor
Pegasus Books
June, 2014
–
September, 2020
(over 6 years)
Acquired, edited, and promoted fiction and nonfiction projects across genres and topics by reading and evaluating submissions for potential acquisition, completing multiple rounds of developmental edits and an accompanying in-depth editorial letter, and reviewing author's edits, copyedits, and proofread pages.
Freelance Developmental Editor
Crooked Lane Books
December, 2019
–
Present
(about 2 years)
Edit fiction manuscripts on a per project basis, delivering a first round of edits and five- to six-page editorial letter and, after author review, a second round of edits and one- to two-page editorial letter.
Freelance Editor and Writer
Radish Fiction
April, 2019
–
August, 2020
(over 1 year)
Edited five to ten weekly “episodes” of ongoing serialized genre stories, each 1500-2000 words, or developed and wrote a minimum of five weekly episodes, each 1500-1700 words.
Portfolio (52 selected works)
A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself: A Novel
William Boyle
Goodfellas meets Thelma and Louise when an unlikely trio of women in New York find themselves banding together to escape the clutches of violent figures from their pasts. After Brooklyn mob widow Rena Ruggiero hits her eighty-year-old neighbor Enzio in the head with an ashtray when he makes an unwanted move on her, she embarks on a bizarre adventure. Taking off in Enzio’s ’62 Impala, she retre... read more
Dry County: A Novel
Jake Hinkson
A dark vision of American religion and politics, Dry County is a portrait of a man willing to do anything to hold on to his power―including murder. Richard Weatherford is a successful small-town preacher in the Arkansas Ozarks. He’s a proud husband and father of five, and has worked hard to grow his loyal flock with strong sermons and smart community outreach. But while Weatherford is a man of... read more
A Revolutionary War-era secret sends three soldiers on an epic quest across 1940s Europe to recover a piece of American history. Philadelphia, 1776: George Washington asks Betsy Ross to design the first flag of the future United States of America. Her housemaid, Angela Brown, adds to it a secret tribute to the black community: a black cotton star that she slips under one of the white ones. Dov... read more
The horrifying true story of a killing inside the secluded Word of Life Christian Church, a parish-turned-cult in upstate New York. Teenager Lucas Leonard made shocking admissions in front of the altar―he'd practiced witchcraft, conspired to murder his parents, and committed unspeakable crimes. The confessions earned him a brutal beating by a gang of angry church members, including his parents... read more
Marah Chase and the Conqueror's Tomb: A Novel
Jay Stringer
Rogue archeologist Marah Chase is approached by MI6 with an impossible mission: to help them recover a dangerous treasure lost after the death of Alexander the Great. Once a rising star in the field of archaeology, Marah Chase is now a black-market treasure hunter, her services available to the highest bidder. But when she’s caught “rescuing” relics in Syria before they’re destroyed by war, an... read more
Betrayal in Time: A Novel (Kendra Donovan Mysteries)
Julie McElwain
Kendra Donovan’s adventures in nineteenth-century England continue when she is called upon to investigate the murder of a spymaster. February 1816: A race through the icy, twisting cobblestone streets of London ends inside an abandoned church―and a horrific discovery. Bow Street Runner Sam Kelly is called to investigate the grisly murder of Sir Giles Holbrooke, who was left naked and garroted,... read more
The latest Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mystery takes the acclaimed detective duo into the Deep South to investigate a murder within the Chinese community. The Most Southern Place on Earth: that’s what they call the Mississippi Delta. It’s not a place Lydia Chin, an American-born Chinese private detective from Chinatown, NYC, ever thought she’d have reason to go. But when her mother tells her a cousi... read more
Celebrated artist Francisco de Goya confronts demons real and imagined in this vivid portrayal of the end of his life. Francisco de Goya is considered one of the most important Spanish painters of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, last of the Greats and first of the modernists. But his sumptuous images stemmed from a mind in torment, especially later in his life.Goya: The Ter... read more
Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Greene's Cold War Spy Novel
Christopher Hull PhD
Exploring the backstory that led to the writing of Graham Greene's beloved satirical spy novel, Our Man Down in Havana evokes this pivotal time and place in the author's life. When U.S. immigration authorities deported Graham Greene from Puerto Rico in 1954, the British author made an unplanned visit to Havana and discovered that “every vice was permissible and every trade possible” in a Carib... read more
The latest mystery in this charming mystery series finds the ever-resourceful Kath Rutledge and shop ghost Geneva tangled up in an embroidery rivalry―and a murder. Yarn shop owner Kath Rutledge is looking forward to the grand opening of the Blue Plum Vault, a co-op of small shops on Main Street. But in the week before the grand opening, Kath and her needlework group, TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s ... read more
Bear No Malice: A Novel
Clarissa Harwood
Great Expectations meets Grantchester in this story of love and lies, secrets and second chances, set in Edwardian England. Beaten and left for dead in the English countryside, clergyman and reformer Tom Cross is rescued and nursed back to health by Miranda and Simon Thorne, reclusive siblings who seem to have as many secrets as he does. Tom has spent years helping the downtrodden in London wh... read more
Book of the Just: Book Three of the Bohemian Trilogy
Dana Chamblee Carpenter
After centuries of searching, Mouse now has everything she’s ever wanted within her reach―a normal life, a lover, a brother. What will she risk to keep them? Cherished by a Father, coveted by a king, loved by an almost-priest; tormented by demons, tortured by a madman, hunted by a cult, hounded by her father. Mouse has survived it all. But then, she was never just a girl. Despite Mouse’s power... read more
Gravesend: A Novel
William Boyle
In this masterful work of neo-noir, William Boyle expertly captures the grit and desperation of a neighborhood in flux, and spotlights the neighbors who find themselves caught up in the crimes of the past. Some worship him and some want him dead, but either way, tensions run high when “Ray Boy” Calabrese is released from prison. It’s been sixteen years since Ray Boy’s actions led to the death ... read more
Conscience: A Novel
Alice Mattison
A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year Acclaimed author Alice Mattison’s new novel explores the hard choices a young woman and her friends made decades earlier at the height of the Vietnam War. Decades ago in Brooklyn, three girls demonstrated against the Vietnam War, and each followed a distinct path into adulthood. Helen became a violent revolutionary. Val wrote a controversial book, Bri... read more
Kiki Button―war veteran, party girl, detective, and spy―finds that she can’t outrun her past exploits, even in the glittering world of Jazz Age Paris. Paris in 1921 is the city of freedom, where hatless and footloose Kiki Button can drink champagne and dance until dawn. She works as a gossip columnist, partying with the rich and famous, the bohemian and strange, using every moment to create a ... read more
Caught in Time: A Novel (Kendra Donovan Mysteries)
Julie McElwain
Still stranded in 1815, FBI agent Kendra Donovan finds herself on the trail of a vicious murderer with a shocking secret. October 1815: There is only one place Kendra Donovan wants to travel―back to her own time period in the twenty-first century. But since that’s not happening, she agrees instead to travel with her new guardian, the Duke of Aldridge, to one of his smaller estates in Lancashir... read more
The Lonely Witness: A Novel
William Boyle
When a young woman with a sordid past witnesses a murder, she finds herself fascinated by the killer and decides to track him down herself. Amy was once a party girl, but she now lives a lonely life, helping the house-bound to receive communion in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn. She stops in at one of the apartments on her route, where Mrs. Epifanio, the elderly woman who lives there, ... read more
Dodging and Burning: A Mystery
John Copenhaver
In a small Virginia town still reeling from World War II, a photograph of a beautiful murdered woman propels three young people into the middle of a far-reaching mystery. *Nominated for a 2019 Barry Award and Lambda Literary Award* A lurid crime scene photo of a beautiful woman arrives on mystery writer Bunny Prescott's doorstep with no return address―and it's not the first time she's seen it.... read more
The new mystery in the Highland Bookshop series, bringing together a body outside a pub, a visiting author determined to find the killer, and a murderously good batch of scones . . . Inversgail, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, welcomes home native daughter and best-selling environmental writer Daphne Wood. Known as the icon of ecology, Daphne will spend three months as the author ... read more
Impossible Saints: A Novel
Clarissa Harwood
Set in England in 1907, Impossible Saints is a novel that burns as brightly as the suffrage movement it depicts, with the emotional resonance of Tracy Chevalier and Jennifer Robson. Escaping the constraints of life as a village schoolmistress, Lilia Brooke bursts into London and into Paul Harris’s orderly life, shattering his belief that women are gentle creatures who need protection. Lilia wa... read more
A Son Called Gabriel: A Novel
Damian McNicholl
A beautiful and deeply felt coming-of-age novel that follows one young man’s struggles with family secrets and the mysteries of his own heart in 1960s Northern Ireland. Gabriel Harkin is the eldest of four children in a working-class family in 1960s Northern Ireland, struggling through a loving, if often brutal, childhood. In the staunchly Catholic community to which Gabriel belongs, the stric... read more
The Moment of Truth: A Novel
Damian McNicholl
Inspired by true events, The Moment of Truth finds a Texan art student facing down life, death, love, and glory in the bullfighting rings of 1950s Mexico. Texan art student Kathleen Boyd has been dreaming about becoming a matador since her beloved father took her to the bullfighting ring when she was just a child. Now a young woman, her disapproving fiancé and her practical-minded mother see h... read more
A Twist in Time: A Novel (Kendra Donovan Mysteries)
Julie McElwain
When Kendra Donovan’s plan to return to the 21st century fails, leaving her stranded in 1815, the Duke of Aldridge believes he knows the reason―she must save his nephew, who has been accused of brutally murdering his ex-mistress. Former FBI agent Kendra Donovan’s attempts to return to the twenty-first century have failed, leaving her stuck at Aldridge Castle in 1815. And her problems have just... read more
A Want of Kindness: A Novel
Joanne Limburg
Unfolding in the heady world of the glittering Restoration court, A Want of Kindness follows an expendable princess on her unlikely progress to becoming queen, through the religion, politics, disease, deceit, and treachery of the time. The wicked, bawdy Restoration court is no place for a child princess. Ten-year-old Anne cuts an odd figure: a sickly child, she is drawn towards improper pursui... read more
The Hanged Man: A Mystery in Fin de Siecle Paris
Gary Inbinder
Like many fin de siecle Parisians, Inspector Achille Lefebvre is looking forward to a pleasant summer holiday at a seaside resort with his wife, Adele―but a body found hanging from a bridge in a public park interferes with the inspector's plans. Paris: July, 1890. Inspector Achille Lefebvre and his wife Adele are enjoying their stay at a seaside resort―until a body found hanging from a bridge ... read more
Faced with dwindling resources and warring tribes, the colony on Roanoke Island begins to crumble while one young housekeeper commits herself to recording her every memory of the Lost Colony. In 1587, the 118 men, women, and children of the "Lost Colony" were abandoned by their governor on what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and never heard from again. In this fictional journal, Emme M... read more
A Murder in Time: A Novel (Kendra Donovan Mysteries)
Julie McElwain
When brilliant FBI agent Kendra Donovan stumbles back in time and finds herself in a 19th century English castle under threat from a vicious serial killer, she scrambles to solve the case before it takes her life―200 years before she was even born. Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous rai... read more
Melvile: A Graphic Novel
Romain Renard
Haunted by the memory of his successful father and desperate to escape his personal demons, a novelist seeks solace in a rural town―but, of course, no one can outrun their troubles for long, especially not in Melvile. Samuel Beauclair’s life has hit the skids. He’s late with his second novel, he’s going through a rough patch with his pregnant wife, and the bank is foreclosing on his apartment.... read more
A brilliantly original history that explores the shifting cultural mores of courtship, told through the lives of remarkable women and men throughout history. If sex has generally been a private matter, seduction has always been of intense public interest. Whether the stuff of front-page tabloid news, the scandal of nineteenth-century American courts, or the stuff of literature across the eras,... read more
The Coldest Warrior: A Novel
Paul Vidich
The new novel by acclaimed espionage author Paul Vidich explores the dark side of intelligence, when a CIA officer delves into a cold case from the 1950s―with fatal consequences. In 1953, at the end of the Korean War, Dr. Charles Wilson, an Army bio-weapons scientist, died when he “jumped or fell” from the ninth floor of a Washington hotel. As his wife and children grieve, the details of his d... read more
City of Margins: A Novel
William Boyle
A vivid new cast of characters collide in gritty 1990s Brooklyn, in this latest from acclaimed neo-noir author William Boyle. In City of Margins, the lives of several lost souls intersect in Southern Brooklyn in the early 1990s. There’s Donnie Parascandolo, a disgraced ex-cop with blood on his hands; Ava Bifulco, a widow whose daily work grind is her whole life; Nick, Ava’s son, a grubby high ... read more
The stories of four royal women, their lives intertwined by family and bound by persecution, unravel the history of witchcraft in fifteenth-century England. Until the mass hysteria of the seventeenth century, accusations of witchcraft in England were rare. However, four royal women, related in family and in court ties―Joan of Navarre, Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodv... read more
The latest entry in the charming Highland Bookshop mystery series finds the women of Yon Bonnie Books embroiled in the death of a local doctor, which sets off a chain of other curious―and deadly―events. Out for a bicycle ride in the hills beyond Inversgail, Janet Marsh discovers the body of Dr. Malcolm Murray. The elderly Murray and his own bicycle went off the road and down a steep slope―he’s... read more
Silence on Cold River: A Novel
Casey Dunn
Three people cross paths in the north Georgia woods one night, setting into motion a race to catch a ruthless and chillingly inventive serial killer. On a run through the woods outside her north Georgia hometown, defense attorney Ama Chaplin encounters a mysterious hiker and recognizes him, too late, as a sociopath she successfully defended when he was a teenager. In the intervening seventeen ... read more
Lady Chevy: A Novel
John Woods
In a forgotten part of Middle America, a defiant act leaves one man dead and one teenage girl faced with a stark decision that could mean losing everything. Amy Wirkner, a high school senior in Barnesville, Ohio, is a loner, nicknamed “Chevy” for her size. She’s smart, funny, and absolutely determined to escape from her small town in the Ohio Valley, a place poisoned by fracking. She does well... read more
Marah Chase and the Fountain of Youth: A Novel
Jay Stringer
Adventurer Marah Chase might just be ready to settle down―but she can’t resist one last epic, globe-trotting quest to rescue a friend and discover a legendary locale. Marah Chase has everything she wanted. Her academic career is back on track, she’s moved into a Manhattan apartment, and a dream job is waiting at the American Museum of Natural History. So why can’t she seem to stop slipping int... read more
Shadows in Time: A Novel
Julie McElwain
In 1816 London, Kendra Donovan tries to track down a missing man, but also finds trouble brewing closer to home in the fifth book in Julie McElwain’s riveting time-travel mystery series. When Kendra Donovan is approached by Mrs. Gavenston with an unusual request―to find her business manager, Jeremy Pascoe, who recently vanished―the FBI agent is eager to accept the challenge. To Kendra’s way of... read more
My Captain America: A Memoir
Megan Margulies
A finely wrought coming-of-age memoir about the author’s relationship with her beloved grandfather Joe Simon, cartoonist and co-creator of Captain America. In the 1990s, Megan Margulies’s Upper West Side neighborhood was marked by addicts shooting up in subway stations, frequent burglaries, and the “Wild Man of 96th Street,” who set fires under cars and heaved rocks through stained glass churc... read more
Sins of the Bees: A Novel
Lampman, Annie
The Exphoria Code: A Novel
Johnston, Antony
A Deadly Fortune: A Novel
Murphy, Stacie
The Mercenary: A Novel
Vidich, Paul
Windhall: A Novel
Barry, Ava
Little Falls: A Novel
Lewes, Elizabeth
The Last Exit: A Jen Lu Mystery
Kaufman, Michael
13 Days to Die: A Novel
Miksa, Matt
Katie has 4 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
I have worked with other editors before - Katie is a step above in terms of her standards and willingness to go the extra mile, despite my own shortcomings. She took my work to another level - There is no doubt about that statement.
I am sorry to be done with her. I miss her enthusiasm and positivity. She made me feel like my writing was worthwhile and legitimate.
Thank you, Katie,
Mark Irwin, February 2021
She did excellent work and made great suggestions.
Stef Donati, September 2020
Katie Maguire's commitment, talent and editorial expertise are impressive. She had insights into my work that astounded me. She knew what it had and what it should have. She is a secret I am hesitant to share.
Mark Irwin, September 2020
Katie McGuire is great. She not only produced a helpful evaluation of my work, she also completed it much sooner than required. I look forward to further collaborations with her.
Susan Fani, March 2020
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