Hodder announces death of 'no-nonsense' publisher Carolyn Caughey

Hodder & Stoughton has announced that its former publishing director Carolyn Caughey died on 11th March. Colleagues have remembered her as a "generous mentor" and "no-nonsense" editor. 

A Canadian, Caughey lived in England for most of her life. The acquisition of New English Library in 1981 brought her to Hodder & Stoughton and its Bedford Square office, where she published a wide range of authors, particularly in the fields of crime and science fiction. Caughey was closely connected with the work of Dorothy L Sayers and the Dorothy L Sayers Society. She worked with Jill Paton Walsh on Thrones, Dominations – the unfinished Sayers novel that Paton Walsh completed – and three more Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

Hodder Publisher Nick Sayers, who is no relation to Dorothy L Sayers, remembered Caughey as "absolutely the best editor of a text. She could always be relied upon to put together the most complicated project and her careful attention to detail went down to the smallest question of punctuation or – in historical fiction – social etiquette. Carolyn was always good company and a generous mentor to younger editors. She will be much missed". 

In later years, Caughey divided her time between London and Canada. She left Hodder in the early 2000s but continued to work with several authors on a freelance basis, most notably the bestselling novelist Anthony Riches, who said: "Having worked with Carolyn since 2008, and produced 17 books in that time, I was deeply saddened by the news of her passing. Our relationship was perfectly balanced between the tensions of editorial oversight and author creativity, and not once in all that time did we fail to resolve a question in anything other than a harmonious and collaborative manner. I never failed to smile at her emails, which launched straight into business without any of the reflexive ’hi’ we’re all supposed to use, or a signature for that matter, typical of her no-nonsense approach to communication, and I mourn the fact that I’ll never receive another one. She will be sadly missed."

Caughey’s funeral will be held at St Michael’s All Angels, Chiswick on 19th April at 2pm, with a reception to follow. Friends, colleagues and authors are invited to attend. A video link will be available for those unable to attend in person.