Jill McGown was born in Campbeltown, on the peninsula of Kintyre, in Argyll, but moved to Corby, Northamptonshire, with her family when she was ten, where she lived until her death in 2007. Coincidentally, at Corby Grammar School in the early sixties, her Latin teacher was Colin Dexter, long before Inspector Morse was policing Oxford.

Jill is best known for her mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Lloyd and Sergeant Judy Hill, the first of which, A Perfect Match, was published in 1983. Murder at the Old Vicarage, originally published as Redemption, is the second Lloyd and Hill book of the thirteen novels in the series. She adopted the classic traditions of the genre, but brought a modern twist through her characters and situations, and many of her peers believe her work deserves to be better known.