Susan Brearley Mystery Writer & Developmental Editor

I write grandmother noir—mysteries featuring elderly protagonists in morally complex situations. After two terminal diagnoses, I'm still here. The doctors aren't.

Pushcart Prize–nominated writer & editor
1,200+ pieces published on Medium
Editor-in-Chief, MuddyUm & 11 other publications
Food Critic, Chronogram Magazine
Founder, Garden of Neuro Institute

Selected Work

Stories That Stay With You

Black Orchid Submission

Cassandra's Kitchen

When a chef is found dead in a restaurant walk-in, a retired detective with a taste for dark humor serves justice cold. Grandmother noir at its finest.

View All Works

Memoir

Battlefield Hope

Thirty years past a terminal cancer diagnosis. A story about refusing to die on schedule—and what you learn when you outlive your expiration date.

Available on Amazon

Craft Resource

Wordsmiths' Weekly

500 writing prompts curated from the Saturday workshops that draw writers worldwide. Your next story is waiting.

Available on Amazon

Anthology

Emergent: Volume I

Ten emerging voices in contemporary literature. Pushcart Prize nominees. Edited by Susan Brearley through Garden of Neuro Institute Publishing.

Available on Amazon

Explore the Full Empire

About

The Long Game

Thirty years ago, doctors gave me a terminal diagnosis. I buried three of those doctors. Now I write stories about women who refuse to go quietly—grandmothers who've seen enough to know exactly where the bodies should go.

I call it grandmother noir: mysteries featuring elderly protagonists in morally complex situations. Women who've lived long enough to know that justice sometimes wears house slippers and smells like lavender.

When I'm not writing fiction, I serve as Editor-in-Chief for twelve Medium publications, including MuddyUm—the platform's premier humor destination. I write about food and culture for Chronogram Magazine. And through Garden of Neuro Institute, I publish anthologies and help other writers find their voices.

I'm building a ten-year mystery empire. Planning to live to 140. The infant who wouldn't nap finally found her calling.

"The adult finally learned what the infant who wouldn't nap was born knowing: it's impossible to sleep through life when you're already pulsing inside of eternity."

Services

Developmental Editing

Commercial Fiction

Structural editing for mystery, thriller, and suspense writers. I'll help you build tension that sustains, craft twists that earn their reveals, and create characters readers can't forget.

Humor & Dark Comedy

Scott Dikkers–trained perspective on balancing laughs with stakes. When to deploy the wisecrack. When to let the silence breathe. The architecture of funny that serves story.

Memoir & Personal Essay

Finding the story inside your story. Shaping raw experience into narrative that moves readers. Honest feedback from someone who's written through cancer, reinvention, and resurrection.

Food & Culture Writing

Portfolio development for aspiring food writers. How to pitch, how to structure, how to make readers taste what you're describing. Chronogram-tested approaches to regional storytelling.

Published In

Words in the World

Chronogram Magazine Medium MuddyUm Amazon Omega Institute

Get in Touch

Let's Talk

susan@susanbrearley.com