Cicely Aspinall promoted at HQ Fiction

Cicely Aspinall has been promoted to publishing director for crime and thrillers at HQ Fiction. 

Aspinall joined HQ in 2020 as senior commissioning editor and was promoted to editorial director in 2022. During that time, she has published J L Blackhurst’s first foray into crime, and launched number one ebook bestseller Faith Martin’s new cosy crime series in hardback. Earlier this year she published The Four by Ellie Keel, which was an instant Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller and is one of the bestselling debut novels of the year so far. As publishing director, Aspinall will work on overall crime and thriller strategy with HQ’s publisher for crime, thrillers, and book club, Manpreet Grewal, as well as continuing to acquire and publish her own list of authors. 

Manpreet Grewal said: "Cicely leads by example with her holistic approach to her publishing. As well as being a brilliant and clear-sighted publisher, she offers invaluable mentoring to junior colleagues and has made significant contributions to our digital strategy. Her publishing insight, can-do attitude and shrewd editorial eye make her an invaluable member of the team, and I’m looking forward to seeing her take this step up and help us achieve even more success." 

Aspinall added: "This is such an exciting time for HQ, and I’m happy to be stepping up to help shape the next chapter. We’ve achieved so much since I started in 2020, lured by HQ’s dynamic, market-leading publishing, and I know it’s only the beginning. We have the very best authors in the business and there isn’t a more creative, passionate team out there, so I feel very lucky."