Alec Marsh is an author and journalist

Alec Marsh is the author of historical thrillers including the Drabble & Harris books, published by Headline Accent and Sharpe Books

Portrait: David Harrison

Marsh was born in Essex. He attended Ardingly College in West Sussex and then studied history at Newcastle University before embarking on a career in journalism. He started as a reporter at the Western Morning News in Cornwall before moving to The Daily Telegraph in London. He has written for most UK national newspapers including The Times, the Guardian, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, and edited Spear’s magazine from 2017 to 2020. In addition has written for titles including the New Statesman, The Spectator, National Geographic, The Field, Country Life, Aspects of History. Marsh lives in North Essex with his wife and family.

His first Drabble & Harris book is Rule Britannia, which is set against the backdrop of the Abdication Crisis in 1936 and was published in 2019 by Headline Accent. The second novel in the series, Enemy of the Raj, is set in British India in 1937, and was released in 2020. The third in the series, Ghosts of the West, was published in 2021 and sees Drabble and Harris journey to the United States.

The fourth book in the series, After the Flood, is set in Turkey in 1938 against the backdrop of a world moving towards war, and published by Sharpe Books. It was published in July 2024.

Alec is working on a fifth book in the series which will be set against around the events of the Munich Crisis.

His latest book, Cut and Run, is his first in a new series set against the backdrop of the First World War featuring his detective Frank Champion. Cut and Run was released in November 2024 and published by Sharpe Books.