Karen Maitland is a British author known for her medieval thriller fiction. Born in 1956, she has an honours degree in Human Communication and a doctorate in Psycholinguistics. Maitland has authored several renowned works, including The White Room (1996), Company of Liars (2008), The Owl Killers (2009), and The Gallows' Curse (2011). She has also co-written titles in the Medieval Murderers series alongside other medieval crime writers like Bernard Knight and Susanna Gregory.

Maitland is dyslexic and currently resides in the medieval city of Lincoln, near Sherwood Forest. Additionally, she writes under the name KJ Maitland, exploring historical thrillers set in the Jacobean era. She has a passion for history, inspired by her upbringing in Malta, and now lives on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.